Misreporting of dietary energy intake in adolescents

Objectives: to examine the prevalence of under and overreporting of energy intake in adolescents and their associated factors. methods: cross-sectional study with 96 postpubertal adolescents (47 normal-weight and 49 obese),mean age of 16.6±1.3 years. weight and height were measured,and body mass index was calculated. body composition was assessed by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry. dietary intake was evaluated by a 3-day dietary record. biochemical assessment was performed (serum total cholesterol,ldl-cholesterol,hdl-cholesterol,plasma glucose,and insulin). underreporters reported energy intake < 1.35 x basal metabolic rate (bmr),whereas overreporters reported energy intake > 2.4 x bmr. results: energy intake misreporting (under or overreporting) was identified in 65.6% of adolescents (64.6 and 1% of under and overreporting,respectively). obese adolescents were 5.0 times more likely to underreport energy intake (95%ci 2.0-12.7) than normal-weight participants. underreporters showed higher rates of insufficient intake of carbohydrate (19.3 vs. 12.1%,p = 0.046) and lipids (11.3 vs. 0%,p < 0.001) than plausible reporters. cholesterol intake was also lower in underreporters (p = 0.017). there were no significant differences in body composition and biochemical parameters in relation to misreporting. conclusions: the results obtained demonstrated a high percentage of misreporting of energy intake among adolescents,especially among obese subjects,which suggests that energy-adjusted nutrient intake values should be employed in diet-disease risk analysis in order to contribute to a reduction in errors associated with misreporting. copyright © 2010 by sociedade brasileira de pediatria.