Eight self-administered 24-hour dietary recalls using the Internet are feasible in African Americans and Whites: the energetics study.
OBJECTIVE
To support research and to provide food and nutrition practitioners with a strong foundation for nutrient-based counseling, there is a need for affordable automated 24-hour dietary recalls. Multiple days of intake, along with repeated reports over time, are needed to achieve stable indicators of individual intakes and to support evaluation of success in meeting dietary goals because of intraindividual intake variability. Little information has been published on subject responses, participation rates, and the perceived subject burden of repeated 24-hour recalls. Our aim was to determine the willingness of subjects to conduct eight 24-hour recalls via the Internet.


METHODS
A study to validate a Web-based, automated, self-administered 24-hour recall (DietDay, Centrax Corporation, Chicago, IL).


METHODS
Two-hundred and sixty-one white and African-American subjects within 50 miles of the University of California-Los Angeles participated in the study. Subjects completed 3 DietDays at the study visits and another 5 days on their own. The last 2 DietDays were completed 1 and 2 months after the final clinic visit. Subjects were notified by automatic e-mail of the need for DietDay completion, and nonresponders were followed up with personalized e-mails and phone calls.


RESULTS
The perceived subject burden was minimal and, even after completing six recalls, 92% were willing to continue reporting their daily diets 1 and 2 months later. White subjects had a slightly higher rate of return, with 94% completing all eight recalls, compared to 91% of African-American subjects. Participants were able to access the Internet in their homes, offices, library, or homes of friends or family. It is also of interest that 82% of subjects believed the 24-hour recall was superior to a diet history in reflecting their normal diet.


CONCLUSIONS
These results open up new opportunities for food and nutrition practitioners to strengthen their nutritional counseling in an efficient and affordable manner without additional time investment.
Arab
Lenore
L
David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California-Los Angeles, 700 Tiverton, 1-940 Factor Building, Box 951736, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. larab@ucla.edu
Wesseling-Perry
Kate
K
Jardack
Patricia
P
Henry
Judith
J
Winter
Ashley
A
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D003256:Community Participation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003376:Counseling / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods; D004032:Diet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004034:Diet Surveys; D004046:Dietetics / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods; D034742:Electronic Mail; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000191:economics; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult