The validity of dietary assessment methods to accurately measure energy intake in children and adolescents who are overweight or obese: a systematic review

The accurate assessment of energy intake in children and adolescents is an important outcome measure for clinical and population-based research. This systematic review aimed to determine the validity of dietary assessment methods to measure energy intake in children and adolescents who are classified as overweight or obese by comparison with doubly labelled water. Five electronic databases were searched using keywords. Of the 5263 papers identified, seven papers describing six studies met the inclusion criteria. Studies were included in the review if participants were classified as overweight or obese, aged 0–18 years old, if they estimated energy intake via a dietary assessment method and if they compared this to total energy expenditure measured via the doubly labelled water method. All studies were cross-sectional in nature, and each used one dietary assessment method, including 14-day-food record (FR; n = 1), 24 h dietary recall (n = 1), 8-day FR (n = 1), 9-day FR (n = 1), 3-day FR (n = 1) and diet history interview (n = 1). Sample sizes ranged from 9 to 59 participants, with the majority of studies including less than 30 participants (n = 4). Mis-reporting was evident in all of the studies, with under-reporting (n = 5) more frequent than over-reporting (n = 1). Findings from this review suggest that a 24-h dietary recall and diet history interview were the most accurate methods at the group level for children aged 4–14 years, where the parent or combined child and parent were the reporters.