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Body composition, energy expenditure and physical activity

Misreport of energy intake assessed with food records and 24-h recalls compared with total energy expenditure estimated with DLW

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 70, pages 1259–1264 (2016)Cite this article

Subjects

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 03 May 2017

Abstract

Background/objectives:

The accuracy of dietary assessment methods has rarely been validated using precise techniques. The objective of this work was to evaluate the validity of energy intake (EI) estimated with food records (FRs) and 24-h recalls (24hRs) against total energy expenditure (EE) estimated by the doubly labeled water (DLW) method. In addition, the magnitude of EI under-reporting was assessed along with its associated characteristics.

Subjects/methods:

The studied group included 83 adults between 20 and 60 years of age who were recruited from a population-based sample. Within-person variation-adjusted means of EI estimated from two FRs and three 24hRs were compared with EE estimated using the DLW method multiple-point protocol. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to assess the differences between EI and EE, whereas Bland–Altman and survival-agreement plots assessed the agreement between the estimates.

Results:

The mean EE (2540 kcal) was greater than the mean reported EI for both dietary assessment methods (FR: 1774 kcal; 24hR: 1658 kcal, P<0.01). The frequency of under-reporting was lower (20%) for EI estimated with the 24hR than that estimated with the FR (32%). Men presented lower magnitude of under-reported EI than women did. For women, differences between EI and EE were lower with FR than with 24hR. Overall, FR and 24hR showed similar performance. The mean under-reported EI was ~30% for both methods.

Conclusions:

Irregular meal habits, smoking and low education were associated with the under-report of EI. Both FR and 24hR are subjected to bias suggesting the need of refining the procedures applied in dietary assessment methods.

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Acknowledgements

The Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) supported this work (#402204/2005).

Author contributions

TSL participated in the data gathering, biochemical analyses, data analysis, manuscript conception and writing; RRL participated in data analysis, manuscript conception and final revision; EF, KP and ASM participated in the biochemical analyses, data analysis and manuscript final revision; DJH, RS and RAP participated in study conception and design, data analysis, manuscript conception and writing, and final revision.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social and Applied Nutrition, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    T S Lopes & R A Pereira

  2. Institute of Collective Health Studies, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    R R Luiz

  3. Department of Nutritional Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    D J Hoffman

  4. Division of General Internal and Geriatric Medicine, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil

    E Ferriolli & K Pfrimer

  5. Department of Physiological Sciences, Laboratory of Physiology of Nutrition and Development, Biomedical Center, Institute of Biology, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    A S Moura

  6. Department of Epidemiology, Institute of Social Medicine, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    R Sichieri

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Correspondence to T S Lopes.

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Lopes, T., Luiz, R., Hoffman, D. et al. Misreport of energy intake assessed with food records and 24-h recalls compared with total energy expenditure estimated with DLW. Eur J Clin Nutr 70, 1259–1264 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2016.85

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