Abstract
Objectives:Investigating between-meal snack intake and its associated determinants such as emotions and stress presents challenges because both vary from moment to moment throughout the day. A smartphone application (app), was developed to map momentary between-meal snack intake and its associated determinants in the context of daily life. The aim of this study was to compare energy intake reported with the signal-contingent app and reported with an event-contingent paper and pencil diet diary.Methods:In a counterbalanced, cross-sectional design, adults (N = 46) from the general population reported between-meal snack intake during four consecutive days with the app and four consecutive days with a paper and pencil diet diary. A 10-day interval was applied between the two reporting periods. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted to compare both instruments on reported momentary and daily energy intake from snacks.Results:Results showed no significant difference (B = 11.84, p = .14) in momentary energy intake from snacks between the two instruments. However, a significant difference (B = –105.89, p < .01) was found on energy intake from total daily snack consumption.Conclusions:As at momentary level both instruments were comparable in assessing energy intake, research purposes will largely determine the sampling procedure of choice. When momentary associations across time are the interest of study, a signal-contingent sampling procedure may be a suitable method. Since the compared instruments differed on two main features (i.e. the sampling procedure and the device used) it is difficult to disentangle which instrument was the most accurate in assessing daily energy intake.
Highlights
In this study a signal-contingent smartphone app is compared with an event-contingent paper and pencil diet diary in assessing selfreported energy intake from between-meal snacks
Our study demonstrates the comparability of a signal-contingent app with an event-contingent paper and pencil diet diary in assessing momentary energy intake
Conclusions the signal-contingent app is comparable with an event-contingent paper and pencil diet diary in assessing momentary energy intake, both instruments differ in capturing total daily snack consumption
Summary
In this study a signal-contingent smartphone app is compared with an event-contingent paper and pencil diet diary in assessing selfreported energy intake from between-meal snacks. It is important to assess the ability of innovative dietary assessment instruments to map snacking behavior in daily life. Recent research suggests that determinants such as emotions and stress are crucial in predicting dietary behavior (Macht & Simons, 2010; O’Connor, Jones, Conner, McMillan, & Ferguson, 2008). Between-meal snacking has been considered a suitable outlet for dealing with emotions and stress (O’Connor et al, 2008). Because snack intake as well as emotions and stress vary from moment to moment throughout the day, an instrument capable of mapping momentary betweenmeal snack consumption and its associated determinants in the context of everyday life, is required
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