Comparison of visual estimates of children's portion sizes under both shaped-plate and individual-plate conditions

Objective This paper compares the accuracy of visual estimations of childre n's food intake in settings where several children eat together off 1 plate vs individual-plate eating scenarios. Design Eight trained observers were tested in their ability to estimate foo d portions consumed by children enacting common eating scenarios. Foods wer e categorized by food group and according to their presentation by individu al-plate and shared-plate. Observed food weight estimates were compared to actual weights. Subjects/setting The 8 observers visually estimated 69 food portions of chi ldren eating alone and 26 portions where children were eating from a shared plate. This study was carried out in Sarlahi District, a rural, central lo wland region of Nepal. Statistical analyses Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated to examine associations between estimated and actual weights. A fixed effects model was constructed to compare observers. Results Analyses revealed that observer estimates of food weights under fie ld conditions were well correlated with actual weights for individual-plate (r=0.89) and for shared-plate (r=0.84) scenarios. Observers estimated food weights when children ate together on a shared plate less accurately than they did in settings where children ate alone. With the exception of 1 obse rver, observers did not differ significantly in their ability to estimate f ood weights. Accuracy of estimations was influenced by food weight with gre ater error associated with food quantities of less than 70 g. Conclusions Visual estimation is a relatively accurate, valid method of ass essing child food intake under rural field conditions, and the only method to obtain accurate information on dietary intake in regions where shared-pl ate eating is frequent.