Development of an online food frequency questionnaire and estimation of misreporting of energy intake during the COVID-19 pandemic among young adults in Peru

Background: The Young Lives longitudinal study switched to remote data collection methods including the adaptation of dietary intake assessment to online modes due to the physical contact restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to describe the adaptation process and validation of an online quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for Peruvian young adults. Methods: A previously validated face-to-face FFQ for the adult Peruvian population was adapted to be administered through an online self-administered questionnaire using a multi-stage process. Questionnaire development was informed by experts’ opinions and pilot surveys. FFQ validity was assessed by estimating misreporting of energy intake (EI) using the McCrory method, and the FFQ reliability with Cronbach alpha. Logistic regressions were used to examine associations of misreporting with sociodemographic, body mass index (BMI), and physical activity covariates. Results: The FFQ was completed by 426 Peruvian young adults from urban and rural areas, among whom 31% were classified as misreporters, with most of them (16.2%) overreporting daily EI. Men had a lower risk of under-reporting and a higher risk of over-reporting (OR = 0.28 and 1.89). Participants without a higher education degree had a lower risk of under-reporting and a higher risk of over-reporting (OR = 2.18 and 0.36, respectively). No major difference in misreporting was found across age groups, areas, studying as the main activity, being physically active or sedentary, or BMI. Results showed good internal reliability for the overall FFQ (Cronbach alpha = 0.82). Conclusion: Misreporting of EI was mostly explained by education level and sex across participants. Other sociodemographic characteristics, physical activity, sedentary behavior, and BMI did not explain the differences in EI misreporting. The adapted online FFQ proved to be reliable and valid for assessing dietary intakes among Peruvian young adults during the COVID pandemic. Further studies should aim at using and validating innovative dietary intake data collection methods, such as those described, for informing public health policies targeting malnutrition in different contexts after the COVID-19 pandemic

Farm-Level Agricultural Biodiversity in the Peruvian Andes Is Associated with Greater Odds of Women Achieving a Minimally Diverse and Micronutrient Adequate Diet

Abstract Background The extent to and mechanisms by which agricultural biodiversity may influence diet diversity and quality among women are not well understood. Objectives We aimed to 1) determine the association of farm-level agricultural biodiversity with diet diversity and quality among women of reproductive age in Peru and 2) determine the extent to which farm market orientation mediates or moderates this association. Methods We surveyed 600 households with the use of stratified random sampling across 3 study landscapes in the Peruvian Andes with diverse agroecological and market conditions. Diet diversity and quality among women were assessed by using quantitative 24-h dietary recalls with repeat recalls among 100 randomly selected women. We calculated a 10-food group diet diversity score (DDS), the Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W) indicator, probability of adequacy (PA) of 9 micronutrients by using a measurement-error model approach, and mean PA (MPA; mean of PAs for all nutrients). Agricultural biodiversity was defined as a count of crop species cultivated by the household during the 2016–2017 agricultural season. Results In regression analyses adjusting for sociodemographic and agricultural characteristics, farm-level agricultural biodiversity was associated with a higher DDS (incidence rate ratio from Poisson regression: 1.03; P 60%: OR: 1.21; 95% CI: 1.10, 1.35). Farm market orientation did not consistently moderate these associations, and in path analyses we observed no consistent evidence of mediation of these associations by farm market orientation. Conclusions Farm-level agricultural biodiversity was associated with moderately more diverse and more micronutrient-adequate diets among Peruvian women. This association was consistent across farms with varying levels of market orientation, although agricultural biodiversity likely contributed to diets principally through subsistence consumption

The Biodiversity of Food and Agriculture (Agrobiodiversity) in the Anthropocene: Research Advances and a Conceptual Framework

Multiple knowledge systems are crucial to understand human-environment interactions of the biodiversity of agriculture and food systems (agrobiodiversity). This article synthesizes these knowledge systems to formulate the novel Agrobiodiversity Knowledge Framework comprised of four themes: (1) ecology and evolution; (2) governance; (3) food, nutrition, and health; and (4) global environmental and socioeconomic changes. Resulting characterization of these knowledge themes, joined with cross-theme integration, demonstrate advances of agrobiodiversity research, management, and policy amid the accelerated global environmental and socioeconomic transformations of the Anthropocene. Framework results guide the presentation of new data from the Agrobiodiversity, Food, and Nutrition project (AFN) in Peru. These results integrate an emphasis on factors of global change, including climate change. The combination of the new knowledge framework and project results is utilized to point toward future directions for research, policy, and management. The Agrobiodiversity Knowledge Framework is essential to address the transformative planetary challenges of the Anthropocene that include sustainable development with nutritional security, biodiversity conservation, social justice, climate change, and nutrient pollution. Strengthening the focus on and analysis of the complex human-environment interactions of biodiversity in agriculture and food is vital as a nexus of science, scholarship, management, and policy in the era of Earth systems dominated by human activity