Development of a 7-item Dietary Screener Questionnaire for Determining Intakes of Eicosapentaenoic and Docosahexaenoic Acid in Canadians

Abstract

The intakes of the omega-3 polyunsaturated acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3) are associated with various health benefits. The main dietary sources of EPA and DHA are seafood, but there are non-seafood sources that contain significant amounts of EPA and DHA. Determining the dietary intake of EPA and DHA can be challenging due to the sporadic nature of seafood intake. An online 7-item dietary screener has been used to estimate the DHA intake of pregnant women from both seafood and non-seafood sources in the United States. Using this screener as a template, a Canadian screener for estimating EPA and DHA intakes was developed. In Project 1, EPA values were added and DHA values revised to match those in the Canadian Nutrient File, the questions were reordered to focus on seafood commonly consumed, questions about eggs were expanded to include options for size and omega-3 enrichment, and a French version of the screener was developed. In Project 2, fatty acid quantitation analyses were completed on screener items when the Canadian Nutrient File EPA and DHA data was either missing or not consistent with literature. This included eggs (medium, large, extra-large, omega-3, and omega-3 plus), liver (beef, pork, and chicken), and chicken (regular and organic). For Project 3, the “Canadianized” screener was evaluated for errors using mock. To do this, intake information from the 24-hour dietary recalls in the 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) were extrapolated to bimonthly intakes and entered into the screener. The EPA and DHA intakes estimates from the screener agreed with those from the CCHS 2015 Nutrition, indicating that the Canadian screener is ready for a proper validation study in the future. Once validated, this online tool should be able to improve our ability to estimate the intakes of EPA and DHA by Canadians. In addition, the process that was used to “Canadianize” the screener can be used as a template top adapt the screener for different countries.