(P42-18-26) Protocol for Development and Validation of the Fermented Foods Intake Assessment Tool for Estimating 7-Day Intakes of Live Microbe-Containing Fermented Foods in US Adults

Objectives: Intakes of live microbe-containing fermented foods may stimulate short-term gut microbiome changes and immune responses. Current research is limited by a lack of validated tools to assess fermented food intake. This study aims to develop and validate a dietary assessment tool that estimates the 7-day intakes of live microbe-containing fermented foods.

Methods: The Fermented Food Intake Assessment Tool (FFIAT) is a food intake questionnaire designed to quantify the 7-day intakes of live microbe-containing fermented foods among US adults. The pilot version of the online, self-administered FFIAT will be reviewed by subject-matter experts and field-tested.

After refining based on pilot results, we will validate FFIAT against repeat 24-hr dietary recalls. We will recruit adults without dietary or medical restrictions that preclude fermented food consumption. Participants will be asked to provide informed consent prior to study enrollment. During the one-week study period, participants will complete FFIAT once at the beginning and once at the end of the week, a participant characteristics questionnaire and three interviewer-administered 24-hr recalls by phone. Repeatability of FFIAT will be assessed by comparing the two repeat administrations. Relative validity of FFIAT compared to the 24-hr recalls will be assessed using absolute and percent differences in mean estimated intakes, Pearson correlations, Bland-Altman plots, and percent misclassification.

Results: For the validation study, we will enroll 400 participants based on a hypothesized correlation of r = 0.30 between the live microbe-containing fermented food intakes assessed by FFIAT and 24-hr recalls with a 95% confidence interval with a width of 0.20. This sample size permits detecting at the lowest correlation (r ³ 0.20) considered an acceptable outcome in previous dietary assessment validation studies while assuming a 20% participant loss to follow-up.

Conclusions: A validated online self-administered FFIAT will improve the capacity for research on recent dietary intakes of live microbe-containing fermented foods and nutrition and health outcomes.

Funding Sources: US Department of Agriculture