Overreporting Of Energy Intake Research Articles

Alcohol Drinkers Overreport Their Energy Intake in the BIRNH Study: Evaluation by 24-Hour Urinary Excretion of Cations

Objective: Alcohol drinkers are generally considered to underreport their alcohol intake, but little is known about whether they correctly report their energy intake (EI). We assessed the validity of the reported energy intake of alcohol drinkers using the 24-hour urinary (U) excretion of potassium (K) and sodium (Na) as biomarkers.Methods: A total of 2,124 men and 1,998 women 25 to 74 years of age with a 24-hour urine collection, a random sample of the Belgian Interuniversity Research on Nutrition and Health (BIRNH), were studied. Dietary intake (D), including alcohol consumption, was assessed by a one-day food record. Basal metabolic rate (BMR) was predicted from age, gender and weight. As a measure for the degree of reporting error, D-K/U-K, D-Na/U-Na, EI/U-K, Non-alcohol EI/U-Na (NAEI/U-Na), EI/U-Na, EI/U-creatinine and EI/BMR ratios were calculated and compared among non-, moderate and heavy drinkers in both genders.Results: EI, NAEI and all seven ratios examined generally increased with the level of alcohol intake in both genders. After adjustment for age, body mass index, smoking and educational level, most ratios were significantly higher in moderate drinkers (p < 0.02 to p < 0.0001) and in heavy drinkers (all p < 0.0001) than in non-drinkers. These differences were most significant in male heavy drinkers. The exceptions were D-K/U-K, D-Na/U-Na and NAEI/U-Na in moderate and female heavy drinkers and EI/U-K in male moderate drinkers. The estimated amount of the overreporting of EI by heavy drinkers was 27.8% in men and 13.7% in women.Conclusions: This study provides evidence that EI and NAEI obtained from the BIRNH study was overreported among alcohol drinkers, especially among male heavy drinkers. It also indicates that EI from alcohol replaced EI from food.

Under- and overreporting of energy intake using urinary cations as biomarkers: relation to body mass index.

Under- and overreporting of energy intake in relation to body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) were examined by using 24-hour urinary sodium and potassium as biomarkers. The data were obtained from 2,124 men and 1,998 women aged 25-74 years who participated in the 1981-1984 Belgian Interuniversity Research on Nutrition and Health study conducted in Belgium. The ratios of dietary intake to urinary excretion of sodium and potassium, as a measure for relative underreporting, were inversely associated with BMI (for men, beta = -0.019 for sodium ratio and beta = -0.026 for potassium ratio; for women, beta = -0.017 for sodium ratio and beta = -0.019 for potassium ratio; all p < 0.0001) independent of age, smoking, alcohol intake, and educational level. Since 77% of dietary potassium was reported to be excreted in the urine, subjects for whom the (dietary potassium x 0.77)/urinary potassium ratio was <1 were considered underreporters and >1 as overreporters. The percentage of underreporters increased with increasing pooled sex-specific deciles of BMI (beta = 1.88, p < 0.0001) and was higher than the percentage of overreporters in 13 of 20 deciles. At a BMI of 25.4, the percentage of under- and overreporters equalized. In conclusion, the relative underreporting of energy intake and the percentage of underreporters increased with increasing BMI.

Under- and overreporting of energy intake related to weight status and lifestyle in a nationwide sample

Desire for weight change and level of dietary consciousness may severely bias reported food intake in dietary surveys. We evaluated to what degree under- and overreporting of energy intake (EI) was related to lifestyle, sociodemographic variables, and attitudes about body weight and diet in a nationwide dietary survey. Data were gathered by a self-administered quantitative food-frequency questionnaire distributed to a representative sample of men and women aged 16-79 y in Norway, of whom 3144 subjects(63%) responded. Reported EI was related to estimated basal metabolic rate (BMR) based on self-reported body weight, age, and sex. An EI:BMR <1.35 was considered to represent underreporting and an EI:BMR > 2.4 as overreporting of EI. Fewer men than women underreported EI (38% compared with 45%). The fraction of overreporters did not differ significantly between sexes (7% of the men compared with 5% of the women). A large proportion of underreporters was obese (9%) and wanted to reduce their weight (41%). Few overreporters were obese and 12% wanted to increase their weight. Underreporters consumed fewer foods rich in fat and sugar than did the other subjects. Multiple regression analysis showed that desire for weight change and physical activity score were significantly correlated with both EI and EI:BMR when adjusted for sociodemographic and lifestyle variables. Our findings indicated that attitudes about one’s own body weight influenced reported EI. These attitudes are important in the interpretation of dietary data because many of the subjects (>30%) wanted to change their body weight. Am J Clin Nutr 1998;68:266–74.