The Validation of Various Dietary Assessment Methodologies

The role of beverages in overall dietary patterns and health is controversial but remains an important key target for clinical interventions and public policy. Additionally, non-nutritive sweetener intake is controversial. It is difficult to measure intake; therefore, it is difficult to determine associations to health outcomes. For this study, the investigators plan to study 125 adult participants during 3 visits over 2 weeks. The purpose of this study is two-fold: 1) to assess the utility of two food frequency questionnaires (the Healthy Beverage Index and the Non-Nutritive Sweetener questionnaire) and 2) to assess the capabilities of a non-nutritive sweetener biomarker.

The first goal of this study is to assess the validity of the Healthy Beverage Index (HBI) via the BEVQ-15 questionnaire compared to the HBI via dietary recalls. Additionally, the correlations of HBI scores to dietary intake biomarkers will be assessed (urinary specific gravity) and associations between HBI scores with weight status and related cardio-metabolic health variables will be determined (weight, blood pressure, waist circumference, blood lipids, and glucose). The investigators will assess potential confounds to the HBI (health literacy, socio-economic status, demographics). The second goal is to assess the correlations between the non-nutritive sweetener food frequency questionnaire and the 24-hour dietary recalls.

The investigators predict that 1) HBI scores will not vary significantly between BEVQ-15 and dietary recall assessment methods, 2) HBI scores will be significantly correlated to the dietary biomarker (negative association between urinary specific gravity and total fluid intake), 3) there will be statistically significant relationships between HBI scores and health indicators, and 4) non-nutritive sweetener consumption reported in the non-nutritive sweetener questionnaire and the 24-hour dietary recalls will be significantly correlated.