A Mobile Phone Based Method to Assess Energy and Food Intake in Young Children: A Validation Study against the Doubly Labelled Water Method and 24 h Dietary Recalls

• Mobile phones are becoming important instruments for assessing diet and energy intake. We developed the Tool for Energy Balance in Children (TECH), which uses a mobile phone to assess energy and food intake in pre-school children. The aims of this study were: (a) to compare energy intake (EI) using TECH with total energy expenditure (TEE) measured via doubly labelled water (DLW); and (b) to compare intakes of fruits, vegetables, fruit juice, sweetened beverages, candy, ice cream, and bakery products using TECH with intakes acquired by 24 h dietary recalls. Participants were 39 healthy, Swedish children (5.5 +/- 0.5 years) within the ongoing Mobile-based Intervention Intended to Stop Obesity in Preschoolers (MINISTOP) obesity prevention trial. Energy and food intakes were assessed during four days using TECH and 24 h telephone dietary recalls. Mean EI (TECH) was not statistically different from TEE (DLW) (5820 +/- 820 kJ/24 h and 6040 +/- 680kJ/24 h, respectively). No significant differences in the average food intakes using TECH and 24 h dietary recalls were found. All food intakes were correlated between TECH and the 24 h dietary recalls (r = 0.665-0.896, p < 0.001). In conclusion, TECH accurately estimated the average intakes of energy and selected foods and thus has the potential to be a useful tool for dietary studies in pre-school children, for example obesity prevention trials.

Subject headings

Medical and Health Sciences  (ssif)

Clinical Medicine  (ssif)

Medicin och hälsovetenskap  (ssif)

Klinisk medicin  (ssif)

Medical and Health Sciences  (ssif)

Basic Medicine  (ssif)

Medicin och hälsovetenskap  (ssif)

Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper  (ssif)

Genre

government publication  (marcgt)

Keyword

mobile phones; energy intake; food intake; total energy expenditure; child; DLW; 24 h dietary recall