Social desirability, not dietary restraint, is related to accuracy of reported dietary intake of a laboratory meal in females during a 24-hour recall

Underreporting in self-reported dietary intake has been linked to dietary restraint (DR) and social desirability (SD), however few investigations have examined the influence of both DR and SD on reporting accuracy and used objective, rather than estimated, measures to determine dietary reporting accuracy. This study investigated accuracy of reporting consumption of a laboratory meal during a 24-hour dietary recall (24HR) in 38 healthy, college-aged, normal-weight women, categorized as high or low in DR and SD. Participants consumed a lunch of four foods (sandwich wrap, chips, fruit, and ice cream) in a laboratory and completed a telephone 24HR the following day. Accuracy of reported energy intake of the meal = ((reported energy intake − measured energy intake) / measured energy intake) × 100 [positive numbers = overreporting]. Overreporting of energy intake occurred in all groups (overall accuracy rate = 43.1 ± 49.9%). SD-high as compared to SD-low more accurately reported energy intake of chips (19.8 ± 56.2% vs. 117.1 ± 141.3%, p < 0.05) and ice cream (17.2 ± 78.2% vs. 71.6 ± 82.7%, p < 0.05). SD-high as compared to SD-low more accurately reported overall energy intake (29.8 ± 48.2% vs. 58.0 ± 48.8%, p < 0.05). To improve accuracy of dietary assessment, future research should investigate factors contributing to inaccuracies in dietary reporting and the best methodology to use to determine dietary reporting accuracy.

► Examine effect of restraint and social desirability on diet reporting accuracy.
► Overreporting of energy intake was prevalent among all groups.
► Social desirability-high were more accurate than social desirability-low.
► No relationship between dietary restraint and reporting accuracy was found.
► Dissimilarities with previous research may be due to methodological differences.