Calorie intake misreporting by diet record and food frequency questionnaire compared to doubly labeled water among postmenopausal women

Objective: We assessed the extent of energy misreporting from the use of a self-administered 7-day diet record (7-DDR) and a widely used food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) compared to total energy expenditure from doubly labeled water (DLW) in a group of postmenopausal women. Design: At baseline, 65 healthy postmenopausal women were instructed to fill out the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) FFQ and a 7-DDR. Average total energy expenditure using the DLW method was also performed at baseline. Results: On average, the women underestimated total energy in take compared to total energy expenditure assessed from DLW by 37% on the 7-DDR and 42% on the FFQ. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the interpretation of findings from the 7-DDR- and FFQ-based energy-disease association studies in postmenopausal women needs further evaluation.