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Alternatives for energy‐adjustment of nutrient intakes
Author(s) -
Rhee Jinnie,
Cho Eunyoung,
Willett Walter
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.26.1_supplement.1007.1
Subject(s) - nutrient , carotenoid , docosahexaenoic acid , linoleic acid , zoology , food science , fatty acid , chemistry , body weight , medicine , polyunsaturated fatty acid , biochemistry , biology , organic chemistry
Objective Adjustment for body weight and physical activity has been suggested as an alternative to adjusting for reported energy intake. We examined which of these approaches would yield stronger correlations between nutrients and their corresponding blood biomarkers. Methods We used data from nested case‐control studies of erythrocyte fatty acids and coronary heart disease ( N =442), and of plasma carotenoids and breast cancer ( N =1254). Dietary fatty acids and carotenoids were adjusted for total energy intake estimated by food frequency questionnaire and, separately, for body weight and physical activity. We computed correlation coefficients between the adjusted nutrients and their biomarkers. Results Energy‐adjusted trans fatty acid intakes had significantly stronger correlations with blood biomarkers than did intakes adjusted for weight and activity (for plasma fatty acid levels, r =0.17 unadjusted, 0.30 energy‐adjusted, and 0.16 weight‐ and activity‐adjusted; for erythrocytes, the corresponding correlations were 0.25, 0.37, and 0.25). For intakes of linoleic acid and alpha‐linolenic acid, correlations with their respective biomarkers were also significantly stronger when adjusted for reported energy intake than when adjusted for weight and activity. Adjustments made little difference for docosahexaenoic acid and carotenoids. Conclusions Adjustment for energy intake calculated from the same questionnaire used to estimate nutrient intakes appears to be superior to adjustment using body weight and physical activity. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [AG00158].