Accuracy of self-reports of food intake in obese and normal-weight individuals: effects of obesity on self-reports of dietary intake in adult females

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy of self-reported 24-h dietary recalls of overweight and normal-weight adults. Forty female college students (21 overweight, 19 normal weight) consumed a lunch meal at the university cafeteria while being unobtrusively observed. The following day subjects returned to the lab and completed a 24-h recall of their food intake. Accuracy of recalls was assessed by comparing directly observed intake with self-reported intake. Correlated t tests comparing observed and reported intake found a significant amount of overreporting of consumption for the entire sample. When analyses were conducted on individual groups (normal weight vs overweight), no between-group differences were found. A series of one-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) (normal weight vs overweight) and a multivariate ANOVA were performed for total calories, nutrients, and the amount of over- and underreporting. No significant differences between groups were observed.