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Utility of a brief index to measure diet quality of Australian preschoolers in the Feeding Healthy Food to Kids Randomised Controlled Trial
Author(s) -
Duncanson Kerith,
Lee Yu Qi,
Burrows Tracy,
Collins Clare
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
nutrition and dietetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.479
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1747-0080
pISSN - 1446-6368
DOI - 10.1111/1747-0080.12295
Subject(s) - quartile , micronutrient , medicine , food frequency questionnaire , food group , environmental health , confidence interval , pathology
Aim The aim was to evaluate the utility of a brief dietary intake assessment tool in measuring nutritional adequacy of preschoolers and differences in food and nutrient intake between quartiles stratified by overall diet quality. Methods Dietary intakes of preschoolers (n = 146) from the Feeding Healthy Food to Kids trial were reported by parents/caregivers using a 120‐item food frequency questionnaire ( FFQ ). Diet quality was assessed using the Australian Recommended Food Score for Preschoolers. Analyses were performed using Kruskal–Wallis one‐way analysis of variance, adjusted for Type 1 error. Participants were grouped into quartiles by total food score for comparison of subscale scores, food groups and nutrient intakes from the FFQ . Results Participants who scored less than the median total food score of 36 were more likely to have suboptimal micronutrient intakes. Median fruit (9 vs 5, P < 0.0001) and vegetable (14 vs 7, P < 0.0001) subscale scores for preschoolers in the highest quartile were significantly higher than the lowest quartile, indicating much greater fruit and vegetable variety. Statistically significant differences in diet quality score by quartiles ( P < 0.05) were found for total energy and percentage energy from core foods, protein, fibre and 11 micronutrients. Conclusions The Australian Recommended Food Score for Preschoolers is a practical brief diet quality assessment tool to measure food variety and nutritional adequacy in Australian preschoolers. Stratifying children by baseline diet quality in future nutrition interventions is recommended in order to identify those who are likely to benefit or require more targeted approaches to address specific nutritional needs in order to optimise food and nutrient intakes.