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In Reply: Dr Greene asks about apparent inconsistencies between the reported differential energy consumption and actual weight change between the low-fat dietary pattern group and the control group. The dietary assessment information reported in Table 2 arises from a Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) similar to those commonly used in nutrition epidemiology cohort studies, but adapted to the ethnicities and ages of the women who participated in this randomized controlled trial.¹

Repeated applications of this type of instrument to the same study participants (eg, Willett et al²) have shown that FFQ nutrient consumption data incorporate a large random variation component, but the systematic error component has been less investigated. For example, the measurement properties of an FFQ (or other dietary assessment tool) could depend strongly on demographic and behavioral characteristics and on whether a woman is assigned to the intervention or comparison group in a dietary modification trial. Martin et . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Barbara V. Howard, PhD
barbara.v.howard@medstar.net
MedStar Research Institute
Washington, DC

JoAnn E. Manson, MD, DrPH
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Harvard Medical School
Boston, Mass

Marcia L. Stefanick, PhD
Stanford School of Medicine
Stanford, Calif

Shirley A. Beresford, PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Seattle, Wash

Gail Frank, DrPH
University of California at Irvine
Orange

Bobette Jones, DrPH
University of North Carolina School of Medicine and Public Health
Durham

Rebecca J. Rodabough, MS
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Seattle, Wash

Linda Snetselaar, PhD
University of Iowa
Iowa City

Cynthia Thomson, PhD
Department of Nutritional Sciences and Arizona Cancer Center
Tucson

Lesley Tinker, PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Seattle, Wash

Mara Vitolins, DrPH
Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Winston-Salem, NC

Ross Prentice, PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Seattle, Wash

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