Validation of a Diet Risk Screening Tool

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US. The risk of heart disease increases with diabetes, overweight/obesity and unhealthy lifestyle behaviors. Despite the well recognized benefits of a healthy lifestyle in reducing heart disease risk, nutrition is not a part of routine medical care. Only about 25% of patients with a chronic disease, such as CVD (and only about 12% of those without a chronic disease), receive nutrition education from their doctor. Doctors often report a lack of confidence in providing nutrition education, and a lack of time in the office visit. Doctors need resources to assess diet and discuss nutrition with patients. This research aims to provide doctors with a diet assessment/ intervention tool to improve rates of nutrition intervention in medical care.

There are few nutrition assessment tools appropriate for use in a medical office visit. The investigators have created a 9-item questionnaire that doctors can use to quickly assess diet in the office visit and plan test to it ensure that it measures diet accurately. In this study, the investigators will test the new questionnaire against an established, validated tool called a food frequency questionnaire. The investigators will also create talking points that physicians can use to help their patients make healthy dietary changes. In the future, the investigators will create a cell phone app based on the questionnaire that can be accessed quickly in an office visit. The app will provide a risk score and personalized talking points that can be discussed with the patient or e-mailed to them directly.

An increase of just 1 serving of fruit per day (1 small apple, 1 cup of berries, 1 orange) could save over 1 million lives per year and reduce heart disease risk dramatically. This project could help to improve nutrition counseling by physicians during office visits, and can be expected to reduce heart disease rates and increase quality of life for those living with heart disease. This is important not only because of the statistics above, but also because when physicians do discuss healthy lifestyle changes with their patients, patients are more likely to make changes and improve their cardiovascular health.

Inclusion criteria

• Adults across the United States, ages 35-75, with a computer and Internet access

Exclusion criteria

• Any individuals not meeting the study inclusion criteria or not willing to adhere to the study protocol