Children's recalls from five dietary-reporting validation studies. Intrusions in correctly reported and misreported options in school breakfast reports

For school breakfast each day, many elementary schools offer a choice between a cold option that includes ready-to-eat (RTE) cereal and a hot option that includes a non-RTE-cereal entrée such as waffles. For breakfast reports, intrusions (reports of uneaten items) in correctly reported and misreported breakfast options were examined using data from five dietary-reporting validation studies. In each study, fourth-grade children were observed eating school breakfast and school lunch and then interviewed to obtain a dietary recall. A breakfast option was correctly reported in 240 breakfast reports for 203 intrusions total, and misreported in 97 breakfast reports for 189 intrusions total. Asymmetry was evident in misreported options; specifically, children observed eating a cold option almost never misreported a hot option, but children observed eating a hot option often misreported a cold option. Proportionately more breakfast reports were intrusion-free when a breakfast option was correctly reported than misreported. Linking of intrusions (i.e., multiple intrusions from the same option in a breakfast report) was especially evident with misreported breakfast options. Methodological aspects of dietary recalls such as target period (prior 24 h; previous day), interview time (morning; afternoon; evening), and interview format (meal; open) had implications for intrusions and misreported breakfast options.