Underreporting of energy intake is less common among pregnant women in Indonesia

Objectives: To evaluate the ratio of reported energy intake to basal metabolic rate (EI/BMR) among pregnant Indonesian women, as well as identifying risk factors for being an underreporter. Design: Longitudinal study of dietary intake, using six repeated 24-hour diet recalls each trimester. Basal metabolic rate was estimated from body weight and physical activity from occupation. The lower 95% confidence interval for plausible EI/BMR was calculated and the proportion of underreporters estimated. Risk factors for being an underreporter were assessed in multivariate logistic regression analyses. Setting: Purworejo District, central Java, Indonesia. Subjects: Pregnant women (n = 490). Results: For the three trimesters, EI/BMR ratio was 1.33 +/- 0.48, 1.53 +/- 0.43 and 1.52 +/- 0.40 (mean +/- standard deviation), respectively. The proportion of underreporters was 29.7%, 16.2% and 17.6%. Characteristics significantly associated with underreporting in at least one trimester included high body mass index and low education. Conclusions: Levels of underreporting were low among the pregnant Indonesian women during the second and third trimesters. The low EI/BMR ratio during the first trimester likely reflects a true low intake due to nausea, rather than underreporting. Risk factors for being an underreporter included those known from developed countries, i.e. obesity and low education.