Overweight and Obese Children's Ability to Report Energy Intake Using Digital Camera Food Records during a 2-Year Study

The objective was to evaluate overweight and obese children's ability to report reproducible and valid estimates of energy intake (EI) by using digital camera food records (FR) during a 2-year study, compared with objectively measured total energy expenditure (TEE). Seventy-three overweight/obese children, aged 8-12 years at inclusion, kept FR with the help of digital cameras for 16 days in total, on 7 occasions during a 2-year period. On the same days, their TEE was registered with SenseWear Armband (SWA). The children underestimated their EI by -2.8 (2.4) MJ/d on the first assessment occasion (95% CI: -3.3, -2.3). Reporting accuracy did not differ between the 7 assessment occasions (P = 0.15). Variables negatively associated with reporting accuracy relative to TEE were increased age (95% CI: -0.07, -0.01) and BMI z-score (95% CI: -0.18, -0.06). Further, reporting accuracy relative to TEE was lower for girls than boys (95% CI: -0.14, -0.01) and on weekdays compared with weekend days (95% CI: -0.08, -0.001). In conclusion, overweight and obese children were able to report their EI using a digital camera FR with good reproducibility over a 2-year period, even though their EI was underestimated compared with objectively measured TEE.