An interactive internet-based plate for assessing lunchtime food intake: A validation study on male employees

Background: misreporting food intake is common because most health screenings rely on self-reports. the more accurate methods (eg,weighing food) are costly,time consuming,and impractical. objectives: we developed a new instrument for reporting food intake-an internet-based interactive virtual food plate. the objective of this study was to validate this instrument's ability to assess lunch intake. methods: participants were asked to compose an ordinary lunch meal using both a virtual and a real lunch plate (with real food on a real plate). the participants ate their real lunch meals on-site. before and after pictures of the composed lunch meals were taken. both meals included identical food items. participants were randomized to start with either instrument. the 2 instruments were compared using correlation and concordance measures (total energy intake,nutritional components,quantity of food,and participant characteristics). results: a total of 55 men (median age: 45 years,median body mass index [bmi]: 25.8 kg/m2) participated. we found an overall overestimation of reported median energy intake using the computer plate (3044 kj,interquartile range [iqr] 1202 kj) compared with the real lunch plate (2734 kj,iqr 1051 kj,p<.001). spearman rank correlations and concordance correlations for energy intake and nutritional components ranged between 0.58 to 0.79 and 0.65 to 0.81,respectively. conclusion: although it slightly overestimated,our computer plate provides promising results in assessing lunch intake. © filippo castiglione.