Correspondence of the NCI fruit and vegetable screener to repeat 24-H recalls and serum carotenoids in behavioral intervention trials

Five sites participating in the NCI Behavior Change Consortium administered the NCI Fruit and Vegetable Screener (FVS) and multiple, nonconsecutive 24-h dietary recall interviews (24HR) to 590 participants. Three sites also obtained serum carotenoids (n = 295). Participants were primarily female, ethnically diverse, and varied by age and education. Correlations between 24HR and FVS by site ranged from 0.31 (P = 0.07) to 0.47 (P < 0.01) in men and from 0.43 to 0.63 (P < 0.01) in women. Compared with 24HR, FVS significantly (P < 0.05) overestimated intake at 2 of 4 sites for men and all 4 sites for women. Differences in estimated total servings of fruits and vegetables/d ranged from 0.16 to 3.06 servings. On average, the FVS overestimated intake by 1.76 servings in men and 2.11 servings in women. Alternative FVS scoring procedures and a 1-item screener lowered correlations with 24HR as well as serum carotenoids but alternate scoring procedures generally improved estimations of servings.