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Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program

Diet History Questionnaire II: Size Formats

Alternate Version Available

You are viewing the web site for DHQ II. The latest version for the U.S. is the DHQ III; however, DHQ III does not yet have a Canadian version. The Canadian version of DHQ II is still available.

Food question variables typically include a frequency question ("How often did you eat this food?") and a serving size question ("Each time you ate it, how much did you eat?"). The serving size question asks the respondent to choose one answer from a list. Typically, the number of choices equals the number of serving sizes defined in the nutrient database. Specific gram amounts are assigned to each food in the foods database. In the nutrient database provided with Diet*Calc, gram amounts are provided for three portion sizes and are noted here as "small," "medium," "large."

Add a new format if you have added food frequency questions to the DHQ that include serving size questions using a format that is not already defined. Edit an existing format if you have changed the serving size questions throughout the questionnaire, for example, if you are allowing a fourth response to all serving size questions.

Two serving size formats are used on the NCI versions of the DHQ as shown below. Format 1 is used for nearly all serving size questions. Format 2 is used only in special cases, where "never" is allowed as a response (fats added to foods; see pages 11, 13, 15-18 of the DHQ).

Size Format #1:
(3 Portion Size Codes)

0 = Small
1 = Medium
2 = Large
Missing
Error

Size Format #2:
(4 Portion Size Codes - includes "never")

0 = Did not usually add or never added
1 = Small (less than 1 teaspoon or tablespoon)
2 = Medium (1 to 3 teaspoons or tablespoons)
3 = Large (more than 3 teaspoons or tablespoons)
Missing
Error