Objective: To study the validity of the reported food intake in a study which was designed to assess exposure to dioxins from food sources. Design: Repeated diet recalls were used to collect food intake data within a period of four months. Data on energy intake were related to computed basal metabolic rate (BMR). Setting and subjects: A group of 69 Turkish immigrants (30 men and 39 women aged 18-59 years) from two municipalities in the Eastern part of the Netherlands, whose selected basic socio-demographic characteristics reflect those of adult Turkish living in the Netherlands. Results and conclusions: A mean energy intake (EI) to BMR ratio of 1.32 for women (mean EI = 8.1 MJ/day) and 1.36 for men (mean EI = 10.6 MJ/day) was found. Subjects in the lower and upper tertile of EL/BMR ratio differed only in body mass index (BMI: kg/m2). Pearson's correlation coefficient between EI/BMR and BMI was -0.39 (P < 0.05). The observed high prevalence of obesity in adult Turkish people complicates, as in other cultures, an accurate assessment of food intake.

immigrants Food Contaminants Turkish Validity Dietary intake

food contamination Netherlands immigrant basal metabolic rate caloric intake human obesity Turkey (republic) Time Factors eating Energy Intake male female Reproducibility of Results Article adult human experiment Turkey normal human food intake body mass Diet Surveys recall Body Mass Index Middle Age 2,3,7,8 tetrachlorodibenzo para dioxin polychlorinated dibenzofuran