PhenolQuest, a Food Frequency Questionnaire focused on polyphenols

PhenolQuest is a Food Frequency Questionnaire specially designed to assess in great detail the dietary intake of (poly)phenols belonging to all the major families, in populations following a European-style diet. Particular attention has been paid to optimizing the food list, questionnaire’s design and usability. PhenolQuest was developed by INRAE, as part of a project partially funded by Danone.

(Poly)phenols represent a large class of bioactive compounds present in our diet. An increasing number of epidemiological, clinical and pre-clinical studies are demonstrating the beneficial effects of (poly)phenols on various health parameters, parlicularly in relation with the prevention of cardiometabolic diseases. However, fully understanding their potential in preventive nutrition requires significant improvements in the assessment of individuals’ exposure to a variety of (poly)phenols. One of the current limitations is the use of standard Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQ) that are not specifically designed for that purpose and as a consequence lack precision and accuracy for assessment of (poly)phenol intakes.

We developed the FFQ PhenolQuest, specially designed to assess with a high level of details the dietary intakes of 120 (poly)phenols belonging to all main families, in populations following a European-style diet. It includes 188 foods with a number of additional variations (n=75). Special effort was made to optimize the questionnaire’s design and usability. In particular, the consumption frequency options were expanded compared to standard FFQ and tailored to different food groups. An application test conducted on a French population panel of 110 sujects demonstrated PhenoQuest’s ability to capture the diversity of (poly)phenol sources consumption patterns. PhenolQuest is shared in integrality for free use and further validation by the community.