Hostname: page-component-5db58dd55d-jhf8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-31T22:08:00.739Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Measuring food intake in studies of obesity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2006

Lauren Lissner
Lauren Lissner*
Affiliation:
Göteborg University and Nordic School of Public Health, Göteborg, Sweden
*
*Corresponding author: Email lauren.lissner@medfak.gu.se
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the 'Save PDF' action button.

The problem of how to measure habitual food intake in studies of obesity remains an enigma in nutritional research. The existence of obesity-specific underreporting was rather controversial until the advent of the doubly labelled water technique gave credence to previously anecdotal evidence that such a bias does in fact exist. This paper reviews a number of issues relevant to interpreting dietary data in studies involving obesity. Topics covered include: participation biases, normative biases, importance of matching method to study, selective underreporting, and a brief discussion of the potential implications of generalised and selective underreporting in analytical epidemiology. It is concluded that selective underreporting of certain food types by obese individuals would produce consequences in analytical epidemiological studies that are both unpredictable and complex. Since it is becoming increasingly acknowledged that selective reporting error does occur, it is important to emphasise that correction for energy intake is not sufficient to eliminate the biases from this type of error. This is true both for obesity-related selective reporting errors and more universal types of selective underreporting, e.g. foods of low social desirability. Additional research is urgently required to examine the consequences of this type of error.

Keywords

Dietary intakeUnderreportingObesitySocial desirability

Information

Type
Part D. New approaches to assessing diets of diverse populations
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 5 , Issue 6a , December 2002 , pp. 889 - 892
Copyright
Copyright © CAB International 2002

References

1Prentice, Am, Black, AE, Coward, WA, Davies, HL, Goldberg, GK, Murgatroyd, PR, et al. High levels of energy expenditure in obese women. Br. Med. J. 1986; 292: 983–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2Hultén, B, Bengtsson, C, Isaksson, B. Some errors in a longitudinal dietary survey revealed by the urine nitrogen test. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 1990; 44: 169–74.Google Scholar
3Heitmann, B, Lissner, L. Dietary under-reporting by obese individuals: is it specific or nonspecific?. Br. Med. J. 1995; 311: 986–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4Samaras, K, Kelly, PJ, Campbell, LV. Dietary underreporting is prevalent in middle-aged British women and is not related to adiposity (percent body fat). Int. J. Obes. 1999; 23: 881–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5Lissner, L, Habicht, J-P, Strupp, B, Haas, J, Levitsky, D, Roe, D. Body composition and energy intake: do overweight women overeat and underreport?. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1989; 49: 320–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6Sonne-Holm, S, Sorensen, TI, Jensen, G, Schnohr, P. Influence of fatness, intelligence, education and sociodemographic factors on response rate in a health survey. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 1989; 43: 369–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7Lewis, CE, Jacobs, DR, McCreath, H, Kiefe, CI, Schreiner, PJ, Smith, DE, et al. Weight gain continues in the 1990s: 10 year trends in weight and overweight from the CARDIA study. Am. J. Epidemiol. 2000; 151: 1172–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8Bengtsson, C, Gredmark, T, Hallberg, L, Hällström, T, Isaksson, B, Lapidus, L, et al. The population study of women in Gothenburg 1980–81 – the third phase of a longitudinal study. Scand. J. Soc. Med. 1989; 17: 141–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9Berg, C, Jonsson, I, Conner, MT, Lissner, L. Sources of bias in a dietary survey of children. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 1998; 52: 663–7.Google Scholar
10Sackett, DL. Bias in analytic research. J. Chron. Dis. 1979; 32: 51–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11Hebert, J, Clemow, L, Pbert, L, Ockene, IS, Ockene, JK. Social desirability bias in dietary self-report may compromise the validity of dietary intake measures. Int. J. Epidemiol. 1995; 24: 389–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12Heitmann, BL. Social desirability bias in dietary self-report may compromise the validity of dietary intake measures: implications for diet disease relationships. Int. J. Epidemiol. 1996; 25: 222–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13Rossner, S. Seeking the truth [commentary]. Scand. J. Nutr. 1999; 43: 85.Google Scholar
14Roth, DL, Snyder, CR, Pace, LM. Dimensions of favorable self-presentation. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 1986; 51: 867–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15Taren, DL, Tobar, M, Hill, A, et al. The association of energy intake bias with psychological scores of women. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 1999; 53: 570–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16Poppitt, SD, Swann, D, Black, AE, Prentice, AM. Assessment of selective under-reporting of food intake by both obese and non-obese women in a metabolic facility. Int. J. Obes. 1998; 22: 303–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17Gripeteg, L, Lissner, L. Reported versus observed food intakes of men residing in a metabolic chamber [abstract]. Presented at Fourth International Conference on Dietary Assessment Methods,Tuscon, AZ,17–20 September 2000.Google Scholar
18Muhlheim, LS, Allison, DB, Heshka, S, et al. Do unsuccessful dieters intentionally underreport food intake?. Int. J. Eat. Disord. 1998; 24: 259–66.3.0.CO;2-L>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19Lindroos, A-K, Sjöström, L, Lissner, L. Validity and reproducibility of a self-administered dietary questionnaire in obese and nonobese subjects. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 1993; 47: 461–81.Google Scholar
20Lindroos, AK, Lissner, L, Sjöström, L. Does degree of obesity influence the validity of reported energy and protein? Results from the SOS dietary questionnaire. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 1999; 53: 375–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21Lissner, L, Eiben, G. Is it possible to prevent obesity in SOS Offspring? Pilot data from the Health-Hunters program. In: Guy-Grand, B, Ailhaud, G, eds. Progress in Obesity Research, Vol. 8. Proceedings of 8th International Congress on Obesity, Paris, 1998. London: John Libbey & Co Ltd, 2000; 845–51.Google Scholar
22Lissner, L, Lindroos, AK, Sjöström, L. A dietary questionnaire developed for Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) [poster]. Presented at the Second International Conference on Dietary Assessment Methods,Boston, MA,22–24 January 1995.Google Scholar
23Lissner, L, Heitmann, B, Lindroos, AK. Measuring intake in free-living humans: a question of bias. Proc. Nutr. Soc. 1998; 57: 333–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
24Heitmann, BL, Lissner, L, Osler, M. Do we eat less fat, or just report so?. Int. J. Obes. 2000; 24: 435–42.Google Scholar