Sources of variation in energy intake by men and women as determined from one year’s daily dietary records

Abstract

Data from a year-long study conducted by the US Department of Agriculture’s Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center were used to identify sources of variation in daily energy intakes. A specific hypothesis was that an inverse relationship exists between past body weight and future energy intake whereas a direct relationship exists between past energy intake and future weight. Daily energy intakes of 29 male (n = 13) and female (n = 16) adult subjects were related through linear-regression analysis to sex (+ for males), age (-), height (+), weight (- for past and present measurements, + for future measurement), data collection method (- for duplicate plate), day of week (+ for Friday and Saturday), and month (+ for May, July, August, December, and January). These relationships were statistically significant (p less than 0.05). The results confirmed the hypothesis and were in general agreement with previously published studies that used larger samples but fewer days of data.