“My Fries were the Size of an iPhone®”: How Portion Size is Reported in the Fuel 2 Fight Study

Capturing portion size estimates is a constant challenge. Our objective was to characterize reported portion size during face-to-face and telephone 24-hour diet recalls among career fire fighters in the Fuel 2 Fight study. Trained nutritionists reviewed recalls and categorized reported portion size into weights, household measures, servings & items (including common alternatives for portion size), or food models. Two-dimensional models were most frequently used in face-to-face recalls, whereas household measures, and servings & items were more frequently used in telephone recalls. Thus, expanding use of common non-food objects with a known volume could be an important portion size alternative for telephone recalls.