Impact of interviewer's body mass index on underreporting energy intake in overweight and obese women

Objective: To determine if overweight and obese women provide more accurate reports of their energy intake by 1) in-person recall with an obese interviewer, 2) in-person recall with a lean interviewer, or 3) telephone recall with an unknown interviewer. Research Methods and Procedures: Eighty-eight overweight and obese women participated in this study. Subjects completed one telephone-administered multiple-pass 24hour recall (MP24R) with an unknown interviewer and were then randomly assigned to an in-person MP24R with either a lean or obese interviewer to gather reported energy intake (rEI). Basal metabolic rate (BMR) was measured using a Deltrac monitor, and physical activity (EEPA) was estimated using a Caltrac accelerometer. Therefore, estimated energy expenditure was determined by: estTEE = (BMR + EEPA) X 1.10. Results: No significant differences were found between the two in-person interview modes for subject age, weight, body mass index, percentage of body fat, total energy expenditure, rEI, and misreporting of energy intake. In-person recall data were combined for comparison with the telephone recalls. No significant difference was found between the in-person and telephone recalls for rEI and misreporting. Mean reported energy intake was significantly lower than estimated total energy expenditure for the telephone recalls and combined (lean and obese modes) in-person recalls. Conclusions: This study found that interviewer body mass index had no impact on self-reported energy intake during an in-person MP24R, and that telephone recall data were comparable with in-person recalls. Underreporting was a widespread problem (similar to26%) for all modes in this sample.