Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Communication
  • Published:

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

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

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4

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

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Beidleman B, Puhl J, De Souza M . 1995 Energy balance in female distance runners Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 61: 303–311

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bingham SA . 1991 Limitations of the various methods for collecting dietary intake data Ann. Nutr. Metab. 35: 117–127

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards JE, Lindeman AK, Mikesky AE, Stager JM . 1993 Energy balance in highly trained female endurance runners Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 25: 1398–1404

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • 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

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation . 1985 Energy and Protein Requirements WHO Technical Report Series 724 Geneva: World Health Organization

    Google Scholar 

  • Heitmann BL, Lissner L . 1995 Dietary underreporting by obese individuals—is it specific or non-specific? Br. Med. J. 311: 986–989

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mela DJ, Aaron JI . 1997 Honest but invalid: what subjects say about recording their food intake J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 97: 791–793

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Neuhaus JM, Murphy SP, Davis MA . 1991 Age and sex differences in variation of nutrient intakes among U.S. adults Epidemiology 2: 447–450

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • 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

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • 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

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

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

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to JA Barnard.

Rights and permissions

Reprints 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

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601341

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links