Mary J. Kretsch

Behavioral and Body Size Correlates of Energy Intake Underreporting by Obese and Normal-weight Women

OBJECTIVE To examine behavioral and body size influences on the underreporting of energy intake by obese and normal-weight women. DESIGN Seven-day estimated food records were kept by subjects before they participated in a 49-day residential study. Self-reported energy intake was compared with energy intake required to maintain a stable body weight during the residential study (reference standard). Energy intake bias and its relationship to various body size and behavioral measures were examined. SUBJECTS Twenty-two, healthy, normal-weight (mean body mass index [BMI] = 21.3) and obese (mean BMI = 34.2) women aged 22 to 42 years were studied. STATISTICAL ANALYSES Analysis of variance, paired t test, simple linear regression, and Pearson correlation analyses were conducted. RESULTS Mean energy intake from self-reported food records was underreported by normal-weight (-9.7%) and obese (-19.4%) women. BMI correlated inversely with the energy intake difference for normal-weight women (r = -.67, P = .02), whereas the Beck Depression Inventory correlated positively with the energy intake difference for obese women (r = .73, P < .01). CONCLUSION/APPLICATIONS: Results suggest that body size and behavioral traits play a role in the ability of women to accurately self-report energy intake. BMI appears to be predictive of underreporting of energy intake by normal-weight women, whereas emotional factors related to depression appear to be more determinant of underreporting for obese women. Understanding causative factors of the underreporting phenomenon will help practicing dietitians to devise appropriate and realistic diet intervention plans that clients can follow to achieve meaningful change.

Effects of a carotene-deficient diet on measures of oxidative susceptibility and superoxide dismutase activity in adult women

The effect of consuming a low carotene diet (approximately 60 micrograms carotene/day) on oxidative susceptibility and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in women living in a metabolic research unit was evaluated. The diet had sufficient vitamins A, E, and C. The women ate the diet supplemented with 1500 micrograms/day beta-carotene for 4 days (baseline), then the unsupplemented diet for 68 days (depletion), followed by the diet supplemented with > 15,000 micrograms/day carotene for 28 days (repletion). Production of hexanal, pentanal, and pentane by copper-oxidized plasma low density lipoproteins from carotene-depleted women was greater than their production of these compounds when repleted with carotene. Erythrocyte SOD activity was depressed in carotene-depleted women; it recovered with repletion. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances in plasma of carotene-depleted women were elevated and diminished with repletion. Dietary carotene seems to be needed, not only as a precursor of vitamin A, but also to inhibit oxidative damage and decrease oxidation susceptibility.

Accuracy of the self-reported dietary recall of new immigrant and refugee children

The ability of recent immigrant and refugee children to accurately recall school cafeteria foods was investigated as part of a nutritional assessment project. Chinese, Hispanic, Filipino, and Cambodian children, aged 8–11 years, were studied in San Francisco. Food obtained from the school (breakfast and lunch) was weighed for 102 children. The following day, bicultural and bilingual dietitians conducted a dietary recall interview of these two school meals with each child in the childs native language. There was no significant difference in energy intake between the recalled and consumed food intake of Chinese and Hispanic children (p<0.01); however, there were differences between ethnic groups in how well the children recalled foods which affected other nutrients, in particular, vitamin A and vitamin C. For the two meals measured, the slopes of the regression lines for energy illustrated the “flat-slope syndrome” for the Chinese and Hispanic children, but not the others. The energy intake data for the Filipino and Cambodian groups was scattered close to the regression line. The Filipino children significantly overestimated and the Cambodian children significantly underestimated food and therefore their intake of energy and other nutrients. The results suggest that these non-English speaking children are similar to other groups of adults and children in that they are only partially successful in recalling their intake.

Quantitative assessment of motor and sensory function in vitamin B-6 deficient rats

Abstract Ataxia, weakness and changes in peripheral sensitivity are consequences of vitamin B-6 deficiency. This experiment was conducted to quantify these effects, using tests commonly employed in toxicology studies. Female Long-Evans rats (mean weight=232g) were blocked by weight into 3 treatment groups (n=12): AL-CON, fed AIN-76A diet ad libitum; DEF, fed the same diet devoid of pyridoxine; and PF-CON, pair-fed to DEF. Motor function was evaluated with hindleg gait analysis, grip-strength, and whole-body pull-up. Sensory function was evaluated using tail-flick and landing foot-spread. Deficiency was detected with a tryptophan-load test on day 9 of a simultaneous experiment with an identical feeding protocol. On day 9, abnormalities were detected and quantified by gait analysis—angle and width of step were affected by diet (P

Validity and reproducibility of a new computerized dietary assessment method: effects of gender and educational level

Abstract Validity and reproducibility of the Nutrition Evaluation Scale System (NESSy), a computerized quantitative dietary method, was examined when used by young men and women with varying levels of education. Twelve male and 9 female volunteers, aged 23–36 years, recorded their food intake for 14 days with NESSy under controlled conditions. Systematic bias was examined by an independent validity check using the gold standard of dietary methodology (i.e. surreptitious weighing of dietary intake by trained dietary staff), and reproducibility was assessed by measuring NESSys ability to provide the same intake estimate for an individual across two similar time periods. Neither educational level nor gender was found to be a biasing factor, nor was the mean of the differences significantly different between the two methods for energy and most nutrients. Intraclass correlations (r 1 ) between NESSy and the reference method for the mean of 14 d for each subject, ranged between 0.912 to 0.999 for energy and all nutrients except vitamin C. Reproducibility calculated on a mean of 7d basis showed little difference between NESSy and the reference method; both being highly reproducible with a r 1 of >0.9 for energy and nearly all nutrients. The results suggest that NESSy is an accurate dietary assessment tool which has sufficiently simplified the food weighing and recording process to enable use by women and men with varying educational levels.