Abstract
Objectives: To assess the accuracy of reporting from both a diet history and food record and identify some of the characteristics of more accurate reporters in a group of healthy adult volunteers for an energy balance study.
Design: Prospective measurements in free-living people.
Setting: Wollongong, Australia.
Subjects: Fifteen healthy volunteers (seven male, eight female; aged 22–59 y; body mass index (BMI) 19–33 kg/m2) from the local community in the city of Wollongong, Australia.
Interventions: Measurement of energy intake via diet history interview and 7 day food records, total energy expenditure by the doubly labelled water technique over 14 days, physical activity by questionnaire, and body fat by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry.
Results: Increased misreporting of energy intake was associated with increased energy expenditure (r=0.90, P<0.0001, diet history; rS=0.79, P=0.0005, food records) but was not associated with age, sex, BMI or body fat. Range in number of recorded dinner foods correlated positively with energy expenditure (rS=0.63, P=0.01) and degree of misreporting (rS=0.71, P=0.003, diet history; rS=0.63, P=0.01, food records). Variation in energy intake at dinner and over the whole day identified by the food records correlated positively with energy expenditure (r=0.58, P=0.02) and misreporting on the diet history (r=0.62, P=0.01).
Conclusions: Subjects who are highly active or who have variable dietary and exercise behaviour may be less accurate in reporting dietary intake. Our findings indicate that it may be necessary to screen for these characteristics in studies where accuracy of reporting at an individual level is critical.
Sponsorship: The study was supported in part by Australian Research Council funds made available through the University of Wollongong.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beaton GH, Burema J, Ritenbaugh C . 1997 Errors in the interpretation of dietary assessments Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 65: 4 Suppl: 1100S–1107S
Beidleman B, Puhl J, De Souza M . 1995 Energy balance in female distance runners Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 61: 303–311
Bingham SA . 1991 Limitations of the various methods for collecting dietary intake data Ann. Nutr. Metab. 35: 117–127
Bingham SA, Cassidy A, Cole TJ, Welch A, Runswick SA, Black AE, Thurnham D, Bates C, Khaw KT, Key TJA, Day NE . 1995 Validation of weighed records and other methods of dietary assessment using the 24 h urine nitrogen technique and other biological markers Br. J. Nutr. 73: 531–550
Black AE . 1997 Under-reporting of energy intake at all levels of energy expenditure: evidence from doubly labelled water studies Proc. Nutr. Soc. 56: 121A
Black AE, Goldberg GR, Jebb SA, Livingstone MBE, Cole TJ, Prentice AM . 1991 Critical evaluation of energy intake data using fundamental principles of energy physiology: 2. Evaluating the results of published surveys Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 45: 583–599
Black AE, Prentice AM, Goldberg GR, Jebb SA, Bingham SA, Livingstone MBE, Coward WA . 1993 Measurements of total energy expenditure provide insights into the validity of dietary measurements of energy intake J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 93: 572–579
Black AE, Bingham SA, Johansson G, Coward WA . 1997 Validation of dietary intakes of protein and energy against 24 h urinary N and DLW energy expenditure in middle-aged women, retired men and post-obese subjects: comparisons with validation against presumed energy requirements Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 51: 405–413
Braam LAJLM, Ocké MC, Bueno-de-Mesquita HB, Seidell JC . 1998 Determinants of obesity-related underreporting of energy intake Am. J. Epidemiol. 147: 1081–1086
Edwards JE, Lindeman AK, Mikesky AE, Stager JM . 1993 Energy balance in highly trained female endurance runners Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 25: 1398–1404
Fanelli MT, Stevenhagen KJ . 1985 Characterizing consumption patterns by food frequency methods: core foods and variety of foods in diets of older Americans J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 85: 1570–1576
FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation . 1985 Energy and Protein Requirements WHO Technical Report Series 724 Geneva: World Health Organization
Heitmann BL, Lissner L . 1995 Dietary underreporting by obese individuals—is it specific or non-specific? Br. Med. J. 311: 986–989
Herbert JR, Clemow L, Pbert L, Ockene IS, Ockene JK . 1995 Social desirability bias in dietary self-report may compromise the validity of dietary intake measures Int. J. Epidemiol. 24: 389–398
Kriska AM . 1997 Modifiable activity questionnaire In A Collection of Physical Activity Questionnaires for Health-Related Research, eds. MA Pereira, SJ FitzGerald, EW Gregg, ML Joswiak, WJ Ryan, RR Suminski, AC Utter & JM Zmuda. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 29 Suppl 6: S73–S78
Lafay L, Basdevant A, Charles M-A, Vray M, Balkau B, Borys J-M, Eschwège E, Romon M . 1997 Determinants and nature of dietary underreporting in a free-living population: the Flerbaix Laventie Ville Santé (FLVS) study Int. J. Obes. Relat. Metab. Disord. 21: 567–573
Lewis J, Hunt A, Milligan G . 1995 NUTTAB95. Canberra, Australia: Government Publishing Service.
Lindroos A-K, Lissner L, Mathiassen ME, Karlsson J, Sullivan M, Bengtsson C, Sjöström L . 1997 Dietary intake in relation to restrained eating, disinhibition, and hunger in obese and nonobese Swedish women Obes. Res. 5: 175–182
Lindroos A-K, Lissner L, Sjöström L . 1999 Does degree of obesity influence the validity of reported energy and protein intake? Results from the SOS Dietary Questionnaire. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 5: 375–378
Livingstone MBE, Prentice AM, Strain JJ, Coward WA, Black AE, Barker ME, McKenna PG, Whitehead RG . 1990 Accuracy of weighed dietary records in studies of diet and health Br. Med. J. 300: 708–712
Mela DJ, Aaron JI . 1997 Honest but invalid: what subjects say about recording their food intake J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 97: 791–793
Neuhaus JM, Murphy SP, Davis MA . 1991 Age and sex differences in variation of nutrient intakes among U.S. adults Epidemiology 2: 447–450
Schoeller DA, Ravussin E, Schutz Y, Acheson KJ, Baertschi P, Jequier E . 1986 Energy expenditure by doubly labeled water: validation in humans and proposed calculation Am. J. Physiol. 250: R823–R830
Schofield WN, Schofield C, James WPT . 1985 Basal metabolic rate—review and prediction, together with an annotated bibliography of source material Hum. Nutr. Clin. Nutr. 39C Suppl 1: 1–96
Tapsell L, Bravo A, Tranter D . 1993 Evaluation of a community nutrition education program: an experience with weighed food records Aust. J. Nutr. Diet. 50: 15–18
Tapsell LC, Brenninger VL, Barnard JA . 2000 Applying conversation analysis to support accurate reporting in the diet history interview J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 100: 818–824
Trappe T, Gastaldelli A, Jozsi A, Troup J, Wolfe R . 1997 Energy expenditure of swimmers during high volume training Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 29: 950–954
Vuckovic N, Ritenbaugh C, Taren DL, Tobar M . 2000 A qualitative study of participants' experiences with dietary assessment J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 100: 1023–1028
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to express their gratitude to Ken Russell, Janine Higgins, Sheena McGhee, Herb Groeller and Michelle Gordon for their technical and organisational assistance. Special thanks must go to Mia Raaschou who provided a portion of the data for subsequent analysis for this report.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Barnard, J., Tapsell, L., Davies, P. et al. Relationship of high energy expenditure and variation in dietary intake with reporting accuracy on 7 day food records and diet histories in a group of healthy adult volunteers. Eur J Clin Nutr 56, 358–367 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601341
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601341
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
The impact of body composition on the degree of misreporting of food diaries
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2023)
-
A systematic literature review of reviews on techniques for physical activity measurement in adults: a DEDIPAC study
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (2018)
-
Dietary Intake of Competitive Bodybuilders
Sports Medicine (2015)
-
Feasibility of a SenseCam-assisted 24-h recall to reduce under-reporting of energy intake
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2013)
-
Effects of increasing dietary protein and fibre intake with lupin on body weight and composition and blood lipids in overweight men and women
International Journal of Obesity (2010)