Grant Details
Grant Number: |
1R03CA081604-01 Interpret this number |
Primary Investigator: |
Kant, Ashima |
Organization: |
Queens College |
Project Title: |
Dietary Underreporting in a National Nutrition Survey |
Fiscal Year: |
1999 |
Abstract
Measurement of dietary intake is a central component of nutrition
research. However, a variety of measurement errors in virtually all
methods of dietary assessment suggest a cautious interpretation of
dietary data. The sources of error may be systematic or random. There
has been increasing recognition of underreporting of food intake in
dietary surveys as a source of measurement error. Dietary intakes
obtained from all self-reported methods of dietary assessment--24-hour
recalls, records, history, and food frequency questionnaires--have been
shown to be underestimates of energy intake. Limited information on who
is more likely to underreport is also available. For example, women and
overweight individuals were more likely to underreport food intake in
some studies. However, little is known about what is underreported.
Because underreporting of food intake can bias results of studies
focusing on diet and disease relationships, it is an important area of
investigation. The purpose of this small grant proposal is to examine
nationally representative data to determine the nature of
underreporting. The study will use dietary data from the third National
Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), 1988-1994
(n=15,979), to determine what is underreported. The specific aims of
this study are to determine whether food group intake or eating
behaviors of dietary underreporters differ from those of adequate
reporters. The significance of the proposed research is that findings
of this study will help in: 1) strategies for improving dietary
assessment methods, and 2) interpretation of results from analytic
epidemiology studies relating food intake to disease by providing
information on what kinds of foods are likely to be underreported.
Publications
None