NCT04148560

Free-living Validation of the RFPM in Adolescents

Validity of the Remote Food Photography Method to Measure Food Intake in Adolescents in Free-living Conditions

• Status: Active Not Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 29 (actual)
• Sponsor: Pennington Biomedical Research Center · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 12 Years – 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The primary aim of this small study is to test the validity of the Remote Food Photography Method and an updated SmartIntake app in a sample of adolescents. The investigators will test the validity (accuracy) of the method/app at estimating energy intake in free-living conditions over approximately three days compared to doubly labeled water. This is a small study that has low statistical power, but will provide important data nonetheless and inform future research.

Detailed description

Energy intake (EI) is an important predictor of weight gain (1) and accurate methods to measure children's and adolescent's EI are needed. Self-report methods (e.g., 24-hour recall and food records) have their strengths and are frequently used to measure children's EI. Nonetheless, they also have significant limitations, including participant and caregiver burden and lack of near real-time data. Our group developed the Remote Food Photography Method (RFPM) to measure the EI of adults in near real-time and the validity data in adults are exceptional; the RFPM underestimates EI in laboratory settings by less than 6% and in free-living conditions by less than 7% compared to weighed foods and by less than 4% compared to doubly labeled water (DLW) over 6 days. At the same time, participant burden is drastically reduced compared to self-report methods, as participants are only required to capture images of their food selection and plate waste with a smartphone app and send these images to the laboratory for analysis. This validation study aims to assess the accuracy of the RFPM and SmartIntake app in a sample of adolescents in free-living conditions.

Conditions

• Dietary Assessment
• Energy Intake
• Food Intake
• Food Photography

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Tests of the validity of the RFPM and SmartIntake app.	Participants who enroll will be trained in using the RFPM/SmartIntake app and a food record and will complete the Food Intake Assessment Preference Survey. They will also use both methods to estimate intake during a simulated lab-based meal (they will not eat during this simulated meal). They will be dosed with DLW at this visit and will use the RFPM for the subsequent 1-2 days to get accustomed to using the method, with the following three days comprising the data collection period.

Timeline

• Start date: 2020-10-01
• Primary completion: 2023-04-17
• Completion: 2025-12-31
• First posted: 2019-11-01
• Last updated: 2025-03-24

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States