Validity of DISHES 98, a computerised dietary history interview: energy and macronutrient intake

Objective: To estimate the relative validity of a computerised dietary hist ory instrument (DISHES 98). Settings: Munich and Berlin. Subjects: A total of 148 persons aged 19-59 y recruited from two research c entres. Design: A relative validation study. Energy and macronutrient intakes obtai ned with DISHES 98 were compared to those assessed with 3-day weighed dieta ry records and with a 24 h dietary recall. Results: Intakes of energy, total, saturated and monounsaturated fat, polys accharides and alcohol were significantly higher and intake of dietary fibr e was significantly lower with the 3-day records than with DISHES 98. For i ntakes of total, animal and vegetable protein, total carbohydrates, mono- a nd disaccharides and cholesterol the mean difference between DISHES 98 and the 3-day dietary records was less than 5% of the intake with DISHES 98. Pe arson's correlation coefficients between DISHES 98 and 3-day records varied from 0.34 for intake of polyunsaturated fat to 0.69 for intake of disaccha rides and from 0.27 for polyunsaturated fat to 0.65 for total carbohydrates between DISHES 98 and the 24 h recall. The proportion of participants clas sified into the same or adjacent quintile of intake varied between 66.9% fo r polyunsaturated fat and 90.4% for alcohol comparing DISHES 98 and 3-day r ecords and between 60.2% for polyunsaturated fat and 78.4% for total carboh ydrates comparing DISHES 98 and 24h recalls. Conclusion: The observed differences between DISHES 98 and the other method s are in an acceptable range for assessing dietary intake in epidemiologic studies.