| dc.description.abstract | Background: This master thesis is a subproject within the Norwegian Foods Study (NFS), which is a diet and lifestyle intervention in colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors. Within the study there was a need for a specific and effective tool for repeated, self-administered assessment of compliance to the Norwegian Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (NFBDG). Therefore, a new questionnaire designed to measure compliance to the NFBDG was developed. The compliance questionnaire is a short food frequency questionnaire that assesses food intake and physical activity the preceding week.
Aims: The aim of this master thesis was to validate the compliance questionnaire to the NFBDG among patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). In addition, we examined to which extent the patients complied to the NFBDG after surgery.
Study design and Methods: A subgroup (n=17) of newly diagnosed CRC patients from the main NFS population was recruited from Ullevål University Hospital. At the baseline of NFS intervention (i.e. 2-3 months post surgery), the participants were asked to fill out the compliance questionnaire and to use two validation tools; SenseWear Armband (n=13) and 7-days weighted food records (n=15).
Results: Significant correlations for intake estimates were found between the compliance questionnaire and the food records for the following variables: fruits and berries including juice, nuts, total red meat, total non-processed meat, alcoholic beverages, juice, beverages with added sugar, foods added sugar and vitamin D (Spearman’s correlation coefficient rho 0.51 - 0.88 (p ≤ 0.05)). There were no significant differences in the absolute intake for any of these categories. On an individual level, the percentage of the participants who achieving full compliance to the guidelines varied from 20 % for total vegetables, fruits and berries to 80 % for intake of fatty fish. On group level, median intake showed 100 % compliance to the guidelines for nuts, total fish, fatty fish, total red meat and juice, and the median compliance to physical activity was 40 % as measured from the Armband.
Conclusion: The compliance questionnaire provides good estimates of intake for fruits and berries including juice, nuts, total red meat, total non-processed meat, alcoholic beverages, juice, beverages with added sugar, foods added sugar and vitamin D. In the CRC the highest compliance to the NFBDG was found for intake of fish, red meat, nuts and juice. Moreover the compliance was lowest for intake of fruits and berries, vegetables and alcoholic beverages. | eng |