Comparison of Visual Estimates of Children's Portion Sizes Under Both Shared-Plate and Individual-Plate Conditions
Section snippets
Methods
The validation study reported here was part of a larger longi-tudinal study of dietary behaviors and child health conducted in a rural district in the central plains of Nepal (16). The validation consisted of 17 separate field tests of 8 local workers trained in the use of structured observation. The field tests involved instances of shared-plate eating (where 2 or more children ate from a single plate) as well as individual-plate eating. All observers were Nepali men with a minimum of a high
Results
Table 1 summarizes the test data based on foods presented in individual-plate sessions by food group. As a percent of actual weight, dark green leafy vegetables and fruits were, on aver-age, more likely to be overestimated (141% and 139%). Mean observer estimates of grains and mixed foods were very close to actual (98% and 96%), respectively. One portion of dairy product observed was underestimated (76%).
Table 2 summarizes data based on foods presented in shared-plate sessions of groups of 2 or
Discussion
Assessing dietary intake under conditions where food is shared from a single plate has rarely been done in nutritional studies (7),(8). Our novel approach tests the validity of visual estimates and provides us with an approximation of the error associated with estimates obtained when food is shared or eaten individu-ally under circumstances that approximate true field condi-tions.Earlier work indicated that under controlled field conditions (within a classroom), observers with training were, on
Applications
■ Visual estimating of portion size is a feasible method of assessing intake under rural field conditions. This method is reasonably accurate, especially for larger food weights, and it is the only method that we are aware of that is suited to estimating food intake in populations where eating from a shared-plate is common. This is particularly important when attempting to assess the dietary intake of young children.
■ However, this method needs focused evaluations to assess accuracy and
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