Daily calcium intake in male children and adolescents obtained from the rapid assessment method and the 24-hour recall method.
BACKGROUND
In order to rapidly assess nutrient intake, Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQ) have been developed and proven to be reliable for quick, user friendly analysis in adults. However, the accuracy of these questionnaires in children has been studied to a limited extent. The aim of this study was to compare the daily calcium intake values obtained from the Rapid Assessment Method (RAM), an FFQ, for assessing daily calcium intake in child and adolescent males with the values obtained from the 24-hour recall method.


METHODS
Subjects included 162 child and adolescent males, aged 9-16 years, subdivided into elementary school (ES, 9-12 years) and high school (HS, 14-16 years) age groups.


RESULTS
Daily calcium intake was significantly lower in ES compared with HS, using both methods. The intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) between RAM values and those obtained using the 24-hour recall questionnaire were significant yet moderate (ICC = 0.46 and 0.43 for ES and HS, respectively). However, daily calcium intake obtained using RAM was significantly higher when compared with the 24-hour recall values in both ES (1576 +/- 1101 vs. 1003 +/- 543 mg, in RAM and 24-hour, respectively) and in HS males (1873 +/- 739 vs. 1159 +/- 515 mg, in RAM and 24-hour, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
RAM overestimates daily calcium intake as compared with the 24-hour recall method in both child and adolescent males.
Moore
Michael
M
Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, Brock University, Ontario, Canada. michaelmoore788@hotmail.com
Braid
Sarah
S
Falk
Bareket
B
Klentrou
Panagiota
P
D000293:Adolescent; D017195:Adolescent Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D050071:Bone Density Conservation Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002136:Calcium, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002648:Child; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D004034:Diet Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009864:Ontario; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*
D050071:Bone Density Conservation Agents; D002136:Calcium, Dietary