Translation, cultural adaptation, and validation of the Hebrew version of the Leeds Food Preference Questionnaire

Background and aims: The Leeds Food Preference Questionnaire (LFPQ) is a computerized task assessing liking, wanting, and preferences for foods categorized by fat content and taste into four groups; high-fat savory (HFSA), low-fat savory (LFSA), high-fat sweet (HFSW), and low-fat sweet (LFSW). This study aimed to translate, culturally adapt, and validate a Hebrew LFPQ (LFPQ-He) version. Methods: The study included two phases. Phase one involved translating the task into Hebrew, selecting and photographing food images, and validating them among 153 participants from the general population (50 % women, mean age and BMI of 43.0 ± 14.3 years and 26.2 ± 4.8 kg/m²). Phase two evaluated the psychometric properties of the LFPQ-He with 20 metabolic bariatric surgery candidates (70 % women, mean age and BMI of 43.8 ± 13.9 years and 44.5 ± 6.2 kg/m²) and 39 healthy medical center employees (79.5 % women, mean age and BMI of 40.5 ± 10.0 years and 21.7 ± 1.9 kg/m²). Data collection included demographics, anthropometrics, the Power of Food Scale (PFS), and the LFPQ-He task, which was re-completed by the medical center employees after a week. Results: Convergent validity showed low to moderate positive correlations between the PFS total and its subscale score and HFSA-related variables, and low negative correlations with LFSW-related and LFSA-related variables. Known-group validity results were non-significant, but trends aligned with expected preferences. Test-retest reliability demonstrated intraclass correlation coefficients ranging from 0.451 (95 %CI: 0.153, 0.674) to 0.901 (95 %CI: 0.817, 0.948), reflecting moderate to good reliability. Conclusion: The LFPQ-He showed acceptable psychometric properties, supporting its use for assessing food preferences and hedonic food-reward in future studies.