Validity of a food and fluid exercise questionnaire for macronutrient intake during exercise against observations
Document Type
Article
Abstract
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Information about the accuracy of self-reported food and fluid intake during competitions is scarce. The objective of this study was to validate a previously developed food and fluid exercise questionnaire (FFEQ) against direct observations made during competitions in athletes. Fifty-eight recreational endurance athletes participating in four different running events and one cross duathlon in the Netherlands between 2015 and 2017 were recruited. The FFEQ overestimated the median energy and carbohydrate intake by 27.6 kcal/h (20.6%) and 9.25 g/h (30.8%) (p < 0.001), respectively, compared to direct observation. Reporting bias (i.e., correlation between the difference between methods and average of both methods) increased with a higher energy (r: 0.41, p < 0.01) and carbohydrate intake (r: 0.44, p < 0.01). No statistically significant difference was found between FFEQ-reported fluid intake per hour and observations (median difference: -2.93 mL, -1.1%; p = 0.48) and no fluid reporting bias was identified (r: 0.23, p = 0.08). FFEQ-reported energy (r: 0.74), carbohydrate (r: 0.74), and fluid (r: 0.85) intake was strongly correlated with the observed intake (all p-values < 0.001). In conclusion, the FFEQ accurately estimates the fluid intake on a group level during competitions in recreational athletes. Even though FFEQ overestimates the energy and carbohydrate intake, it is still a useful tool for ranking individuals based on their intake.
Keywords
Dietary assessment, Nutrition during competition, Self-reporting of intake
Publication Date
10-1-2019
Publication Title
Nutrients
E-ISSN
20726643
Volume
11
Issue
10
PubMed ID
31591334
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.3390/nu11102391
Recommended Citation
Wardenaar, Floris C.; Hoogervorst, Daan; Van Der Burg, Nancy; Versteegen, Joline; Yoo, Wonsuk; and Tasevska, Natasha, "Validity of a food and fluid exercise questionnaire for macronutrient intake during exercise against observations" (2019). Translational Neuroscience. 880.
https://scholar.barrowneuro.org/neurobiology/880