Nutrition, Health Behavior and Obesity Research Lab

The Short Dairy Consumption Questionnaire (S-DCQ)

The Short Dairy Consumption Questionnaire (S-DCQ) is a methodological research initiative focused on developing and validating a brief instrument for assessing habitual dairy consumption in Israel. The project addresses a critical gap in nutritional assessment: the absence of a validated, concise tool capable of capturing culturally specific dairy consumption patterns within the Israeli population. 

Accurate evaluation of dairy-derived nutrients, such as calcium, vitamin D, and high-quality protein, is particularly important in both public health and clinical contexts, including among individuals undergoing metabolic bariatric surgery, where long-term dietary monitoring is essential. Thus, the primary objective of the project is to establish a reliable and feasible instrument that can be integrated into clinical practice and research settings.

The S-DCQ was developed by adapting components of the Israeli Ministry of Health semi-quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire and refining them to reflect commonly consumed dairy products in Israel. The validation process includes expert evaluation to establish content relevance, face validity assessment through cognitive interviews, and pilot testing among both members of the general population and patients undergoing metabolic bariatric surgery to ensure clarity and applicability in diverse contexts. A large-scale validation phase further examines the questionnaire’s stability over repeated administration, its ability to detect meaningful differences in intake between population subgroups, and its agreement with established reference dietary assessment methods. The project also includes planned cross-cultural adaptation to support use among Arabic-speaking populations, ensuring linguistic and conceptual equivalence across diverse communities in Israel.

The instrument has the potential to support dietary monitoring in the general population and to enhance clinical follow-up and research among patients undergoing metabolic bariatric surgery, where accurate assessment of nutrient intake is critical for long-term outcomes.

Setting

Online recruitment for general population validation process, validation among metabolic bariatric surgery in collaboration with the bariatric clinic at hadassah Ein Kerem medical center

Research Team

Moria Uziel

Donia Kaloti

Haya Subhi

Supervision

Dr. Tair Ben-Porat

Dr. Mahmud Abu Ghazala

Dr. Shiri Sherf-Dagan

Status

Development phase has been completed, validation phase is currently ongoing.