METHODS: A population-based study of 454 adolescents aged 12 to 19 years was included. A validated food frequency questionnaire was used to assess dietary patterns and three dietary patterns were identified based on the principal component analysis method.
RESULTS: Malay adolescents had significantly higher scores for the Western-based food pattern and local-based food pattern, whereas Chinese adolescents showed higher scores for the healthy-based food pattern. Multivariate analyses show that age and physical activity (PA) levels were positively associated with healthy-based food pattern in Malay (All, p < 0.001), whereas higher consumption of eating-out from home (EatOut) (p = 0.014) and fast food (p = 0.041) were negatively associated. High weekly breakfast skipping (p < 0.001) and EatOut (p = 0.003) were positively associated with a Western-based pattern, whereas age (p < 0.001) and household income (p = 0.005) were negatively associated. Higher frequency of daily snacking (p = 0.013) was positively associated with local-based food pattern. For Chinese adolescents, age (p < 0.001), PA levels (p < 0.001) and maternal education level (p = 0.035) showed positive associations with the healthy-based pattern, whereas high EatOut (p = 0.001) and fast food intakes (p = 0.001) were negatively associated. Higher weekly consumption of EatOut (p = 0.007), fast food (p = 0.023) and carbonated beverages (p = 0.023), and daily snacking practice (p = 0.004) were positively associated with higher Western-based food pattern, whereas age (p = 0.004) was inversely associated.
CONCLUSION: This study showed that there were significant differences in dietary patterns and its association factors between Malay and Chinese adolescents. More importantly, these findings suggest that unhealthy dietary and lifestyle practices could increase the risk of adherence to unhealthy Western-based food pattern that is high in fat, sugar and salt contents, and, consequently, increase the risk of developing obesity and metabolic-related disorders during these critical years of growth.
METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN: Collective food data from MyHeARTs 2012 database were used to construct the MyUM Adolescent FFQ. Seventy-eight participants between 13 and 15 years old in 2014 were selected through convenient sampling for test-retest study. They completed the MyUM Adolescent FFQ twice, with an interval period of one week. One hundred and fifty-six MyHeARTs study participants who were 15 years old in 2014 were randomly selected for this comparative valid-ity study. They completed a 7-day diet history (7DDH) and subsequently completed the self-administered MyUM Adolescent FFQ.
RESULTS: Pearson's correlations between the FFQ and 7DDH for all macronutrients were statistically significant. Energy-adjusted correlations for protein, carbohydrate, and fat were 0.54, 0.63 and 0.49 respectively. Most of the micronutrients and minerals, were statistically correlated ranging from 0.31 to 0.49 after energy adjustment. Cross-classification analyses revealed that more than 70 percent of adolescents were classified into either the same or adjacent quartile of nutrient intake when comparing data of 7DDH and FFQ. No serious systematic bias was evident in the Bland-Altman plots.
CONCLUSION: The 200-item FFQ developed for Malaysian adolescents has moderate to good comparative validity for assessment of macronutrient and micronutrient intake.