Food Portion Estimation by Children with Obesity: The Effects of Estimation Method and Food Type

Abstract Several factors influence children's ability to report accurate information about their dietary intake. To date, one understudied area of dietary assessment research relates to children's ability to estimate portion sizes of food. The purpose of this cross-sectional research was to examine food portion size estimation accuracy in 7- to 18-year-old children with obesity. Two within-subject experiments (Experiment 1: n=28, Experiment 2: n=27) were conducted in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, during 2007-2008. Three types of portion size measurement aids (PSMAs) (eg, measuring cups and spoons, household objects [full and half-sized], and modeling clay) were counterbalanced in a Latin Square design for participants to estimate four types of foods (ie, solid, liquid, amorphous pieces, and amorphous masses). Analyses of variance conducted on percent of signed and absolute errors yielded significant PSMA type×food type interactions ( P P