A modified simple questionnaire to estimate dietary energy intake for the Japanese.

To produce a simple food questionnaire for estimating total energy intake and intake of three major nutrients which medical or health care staff such as nurses can rapidly use for the determination of health guidance for individuals. The study group comprised 116 normal healthy subjects (mean age ± S.D. = 40.0 ± 17.8 years), 76 women and 40 men. Using findings based on our previous research and experiences and the simple food questionnaire (MHW-FQ) that the "Kenkoh Shihyoh Sakutei Iinkai" established by the then Ministry of Health and Welfare developed in 1975, we produced a modified version of the MHW-FQ and named it M-MHW-FQ. The study presented here was conducted for the statistical determination of the usefulness of M-MHW-FQ. M-MHW-FQ yielded much better results than MHW-FQ as evidenced by improved correlation coefficients, which ranged between 0.56 and 0.75. The findings showed that, despite its simplicity, M-MHW-FQ yielded relatively accurate results and was satisfactory for the rapid estimation of total energy intake including that of three major nutrients. This study provides evidence that our simple questionnaire, M-MHW-FQ, is useful for the rapid estimation of individual total dietary energy intake and nutrient balance. We expect that our questionnaire can make a significant contribution to an improvement in lifestyle-related diseases.