Research reportAgreement between two methods of dietary data collection in female adolescent netball players
Highlights
► Accuracy of a combined self-reported, weighed food diary and 24-h recall. ► Slight over-reporting of energy intake using combined data collection method. ► Good agreement on group level when quantifying energy intake using combined method. ► Combined dietary data collection method effective to use in adolescent netballers.
Introduction
The level of accuracy of self-reported, weighed food diaries for assessing energy intake is well established in normal-weight adolescent girls. Typically, underreporting of energy intake by approximately 20–30% is apparent in adolescent girls of increasing age and body mass index (Bandini et al., 1990, Bandini et al., 2003, Bratteby et al., 1998, Livingstone et al., 1992). Statistics presented by the Health Survey for England (2008) that 31% of boys and 29% of girls (2–15 years) are overweight and 17% of boys and 15% of girls (2–15 years) are obese (Craig, Mindell, & Hirani, 2009), is in direct support for the evidence for a discrepancy between adolescent's self-reported energy intake and their actual food and fluid consumption. Furthermore, in female adolescent populations dissatisfaction with body weight can be an issue (Wardle & Beales, 1986) and may lead to dietary restraint (Herman and Polivy, 1980, Livingstone et al., 1992). Livingstone and Robson (2000) suggest that it is important to identify individuals who are likely to mis-report their energy intake due to dietary restraint issues. The Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (Van Strein, Frijters, Bergers, & Defares, 1986) is one such method that can be used to provide a measure of dietary restraint which is appropriate for use with adolescent girls (11.8–18.0 years old) (Wardle et al., 1992).
The nature of the chosen method of dietary assessment is largely dependent on the type of study being conducted. For example, when considering energy balance in young people, accurate assessment of energy intake and energy expenditure is fundamentally important. Previously, paediatric work has manipulated energy expenditure to look at short-term appetite and energy intake, but under laboratory conditions, where food has been prepared and intake recorded by observers (Bozinovski et al., 2009, Moore et al., 2004, Rumbold and Dodd, 2007). Subsequent work by one of the same research groups (Dodd, Welsman, & Armstrong, 2008) was mostly laboratory-based, however a free-living element was incorporated whereby the young girls (10–11 years) were required to complete a self-reported, weighed food diary and then interviewed the following morning regarding their food intake in the previous 24-h period.
More recently, we have moved to a more representative free-living study design, incorporating the type of activity, netball, that young girls engage in during PE lessons in the United Kingdom (The National Curriculum, 2007) as the exercise ‘pre-load’ (Rumbold, St Clair Gibson, Allsop, Stevenson, & Dodd-Reynolds, 2011). Importantly, in assessing energy balance under free-living conditions, observed food intake under laboratory conditions is no longer appropriate. Indeed, one study has used 24-h recall interviews to assess energy intake, under free-living conditions of female adolescent volleyball players (13–17 years) (Perron & Endres, 1985). Having not determined energy expenditure this made it difficult for Perron and Endres (1985) to determine how accurately energy intake was reported. Energy intake was however identified to be underreported when compared to doubly labelled water values derived from non-athletic groups of a corresponding age (Thompson, 1998). It has been suggested that the accuracy of energy intake measurements can be enhanced when two dietary assessment methods are used in combination (Livingstone & Robson, 2000). Thus we have recently used self-reported, weighed food diaries, supplemented with 24-h recall interviews to assess free-ling energy intake over a 5-day period in female adolescent netball players (Rumbold et al., 2011). There are no data however exploring the accuracy of this combined approach in young athletes. It is clear that there is a need to address the accuracy of free-living dietary data collection in all paediatric populations.
The aim of this study, therefore, was to explore the agreement between researcher observed food intake under laboratory conditions, and self-reported food intake by female adolescent netball players, using a combined weighed food diary and 24 h recall technique.
Section snippets
Design
The study was carried out over one weekend. The participants spent 12-h in the Nutrition Laboratory at Northumbria University (08:00–20:00) and then 12-h at home between 20:00 and 08:00 the following morning. The study was approved by the School of Psychology and Sport Sciences Research Ethics Committee at the University of Northumbria. Written informed consent was obtained from both the girls and the parents or guardians prior to data collection. The girls were informed that the study was
Results
Mean energy intake reported by the participants and mean observed energy intake were 9.56 ± 2.96 and 9.11 ± 2.60 MJ d−1, respectively. Therefore, the mean difference between the two measurement techniques was 0.46 MJ d−1 or the change in mean expressed as a percentage was 4.2%, indicating that the combined self-reported, weighed food diary and 24-h recall interview technique has a slight bias towards over-reporting energy intake. Fig. 1 shows that the random error equated to 1.5 MJ (1.96 SD of the mean
Discussion
This study was the first to investigate the agreement over 24 h between observed and participant reported energy intake in a group of adolescent netball players aged 14–16 years old. The results of this study suggest that at a group level, the combined use of self-reported, weighed food diaries and 24-h recall interviews is an effective method for quantifying energy intake in 14–16-year old, female adolescent netball players.
When the mean observed energy intake value was compared to the mean
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