The development and evaluation of the Australian child and adolescent recommended food score: a cross-sectional study

Nutrition Journal

Research

Skye Marshall¹  Jane Watson²  Tracy Burrows³  Clare E Collins⁴  Maya Guest⁵ 

[1] Lighthouse Nutrition Pty Ltd, 1/23 Namitjira Place, 2478NSW, Ballina, Australia;Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health, The University of Newcastle, 2308NSW, Callaghan, Australia;Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health, The University of Newcastle, 2308NSW, Callaghan, Australia;Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health, The University of Newcastle, 2308NSW, Callaghan, Australia;Priority Research Centre in Physical Activity and Nutrition, Faculty of Health, The University of Newcastle, 2308NSW, Callaghan, Australia;Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health, The University of Newcastle, 2308NSW, Callaghan, Australia;Priority Research Centre in Physical Activity and Nutrition, Faculty of Health, The University of Newcastle, 2308NSW, Callaghan, Australia;School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Priority Research Centre in Physical Activity and Nutrition, University of Newcastle, HA12 Hunter Building, University Drive, 2308NSW, Callaghan, Australia;Priority Research Centre in Physical Activity and Nutrition, Faculty of Health, The University of Newcastle, 2308NSW, Callaghan, Australia;Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health, The University of Newcastle, 2308NSW, Callaghan, Australia;

关键词: Diet quality;    Diet variety;    Index;    Score;    Pediatrics;    Child;    Australia;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1475-2891-11-96

 received in 2012-03-21, accepted in 2012-11-14,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundDiet quality tools have been developed to assess the adequacy of dietary patterns for predicting future morbidity and mortality. This study describes the development and evaluation of a brief food-based diet quality index for use with children at the individual or population level. The Australian Child and Adolescent Recommended Food Score (ACARFS) was developed to reflect adherence to the Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents in Australia and modelled on the approach of the US Recommended Food Score.MethodsThe ACARFS has eight sub-scales and is scored from zero to 73. The diet quality score was evaluated by assessing correlation (Spearman’s correlations) and agreement (weighted κ statistics) between ACARFS scores and nutrient intakes, derived from a food frequency questionnaire in 691 children (mean age 11.0, SD 1.1) in New South Wales, Australia. Nutrient intakes for ACARFS quartiles were compared with the relevant Australian nutrient reference values.ResultsACARFS showed slight to substantial agreement (κ 0.13-0.64) with nutrient intakes, with statistically significant moderate to strong positive correlations with all vitamins, minerals and energy intake (r = 0.42-0.70). ACARFS was not related to BMI.Participants who scored less than the median ACARFS were more likely to have sub-optimal intakes of fibre, folic acid and calcium.ConclusionACARFS demonstrated sufficient accuracy for use in future studies evaluating diet quality. Future research on its utility in targeting improvements in the nutritional quality of usual eating habits of children and adolescents is warranted.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Marshall et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.