Validation of a pre-coded food record for infants and young children

• Published in: European journal of clinical nutrition Vol. 66; no. 1; pp. 91 - 96
• Main Authors: GONDOLF, U. H, TETENS, I, HILLS, A. P, MICHAELSEN, K. F, TROLLE, E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basingstoke Nature Publishing Group 01.01.2012
• Subjects: Babies; Bias; Bioenergetics; Biological and medical sciences; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Cross-Over Studies; Diet; Diet Records; Diet Surveys - standards; Dietary Fats - administration & dosage; Dietary Proteins - administration & dosage; Energy Intake; Energy Metabolism; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Food; Food and Nutrition; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Infant; Life Sciences; Medical sciences; Metabolic diseases; Nutrition; Nutritional Status; Product/Service Evaluations; Reference Values; Validation studies; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Denmark; Human; Validation; energy intake; Energy input; Metabolic diseases; Infant; dietary assessment; pre-coded food record; energy expenditure; Feeding; Doubly labeled water; Diet; Energetic cost; Child; Food; Pre-coded food record; doubly labelled water; validation
• ISSN: 0954-3007; 1476-5640
• DOI: 10.1038/ejcn.2011.133

To assess the validity of a 7-day pre-coded food record (PFR) method in 9-month-old infants against metabolizable energy intake (ME(DLW)) measured by doubly labeled water (DLW); additionally to compare PFR with a 7-day weighed food record (WFR) in 9-month-old infants and 36-month-old children. The study population consisted of 36 infants (age: 9.03±0.2 months) and 36 young children (age: 36.1±0.3 months) enrolled in a cross-over design of 7 consecutive days PFR vs 7 consecutive days WFR. Children were randomly assigned to one method during week 1, crossing over to the alternative method in week 2. Total energy expenditure (TEE) and ME(DLW) were obtained in the 9-month-old infants using the DLW technique for 7 days while recording with PFR. For the 9-month-old group, PFR showed a mean bias of +726 kJ/day, equivalent to 24%, (P<0.0001) compared with ME(DLW) (n=29). Using WFR as the reference in this group no between-method differences were found for energy, fat and carbohydrate. Energy intake in the 36-month-old children was 12% higher in the PFR vs WFR (P<0.0001), and protein plus total fat intake were overestimated with the PFR (P=0.008, P<0.0001, respectively). The study indicates that the PFR may be a valuable tool for measuring energy, energy-yielding nutrients and foods in groups of 9-month-olds infants and 36-month-olds young children.