OBJECTIVE: To explore the dietary patterns of adult women and to provide information for validating the instrument used. METHODS: A population-based cross-sectional study was carried out in a representative sampling of 1,026 women aged 20 to 60 years living in Southeastern Brazil, in 2003. A 70-item food frequency questionnaire was used to measure food intake. Dietary patterns were identified using principal component analysis. RESULTS: The reliability of factor analysis was assessed through the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin statistic, that was equal to 0.823, […]