Fourth-grade children's dietary reporting accuracy by meal component: Results from a validation study that manipulated retention interval and prompts.

We examined reporting accuracy by meal component (beverage, bread, breakfast meat, combination entrée, condiment, dessert, entrée, fruit, vegetable) with validation-study data on 455 fourth-grade children (mean age = 9.92 ± 0.41 years) observed eating school meals and randomized to one of eight dietary recall conditions (two retention intervals [short, long] crossed with four prompts [forward, meal-name, open, reverse]). Accuracy category (match [observed and reported], omission [observed but unreported], intrusion [unobserved but reported]) was a polytomous nominal item response variable. We fit a multilevel cumulative logit model with item variables meal component and serving period (breakfast, lunch) and child variables retention interval, prompt and sex. Significant accuracy category predictors were meal component (p < 0.0003), retention interval (p < 0.0003), meal-component × serving-period (p < 0.0003) and meal-component × retention-interval (p = 0.001). The relationship of meal component and accuracy category was much stronger for lunch than breakfast. For lunch, beverages were matches more often, omissions much less often and intrusions more often than expected under independence; fruits and desserts were omissions more often. For the meal-component × retention-interval interaction, for the short retention interval, beverages were intrusions much more often but combination entrées and condiments were intrusions less often; for the lon...

Source: Appetite - February 3, 2017 Category: Nutrition Authors: Baxter SD, Hitchcock DB, Royer JA, Smith AF, Guinn CH Tags: Appetite Source Type: research