Geographical variation in nutrient intake between urban and rural areas of Jiangsu Province, China and development of a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire for middle-aged inhabitants

The intake of food and nutrients differs between urban and rural areas in China. To develop a practical semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire to cover both the urban and rural areas, we conducted diet surveys and compared food and nutrient intake between the two areas. We recruited 198 urban and 214 rural healthy inhabitants aged 35-55 years, and performed diet surveys, using a 3-day weighed dietary record approach. The intake of 29 nutrients was calculated according to actual consumption of foods, with Standard Food Composition Tables for China and Japan. Then, contribution analysis and multiple regression analysis were employed to select food items covering up to a 90% contribution and a 0.90 R-2 of coefficient of determination, respectively. Consumption of energy and carbohydrates was greater in the rural area, but mean protein intake was higher in the urban case. Values for total fat were greater for rural than for urban males, with animal fat as the major contributor. We finally selected 117 and 76 food items for the urban and rural semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires, respectively, covering 18 and 27 nutrients constituting up to 90% of the nutrient intake. Further validity and reproducibility tests are now needed to assess their appropriateness for usage.