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Assessing diet quality: Challenges and opportuni-ties in assessing dietary intake in children

Rebecca Golley

Sansom Institute for Health Research, UniversitySouth Australia

Diet indices capture whole diet better than sin-gle nutrients or food groups, and are thought toreflect overall dietary patterns. The use of an indexcan aid our understanding of how the complex mixof foods we eat influences health outcomes. Thisis particularly useful in child obesity research, asmultiple aspects of diet influence energy balance.This presentation will describe the developmentand validation of a food-based index that reflectsadherence to the Australian Dietary Guidelines forChildren and Adolescents. The challenges of assess-ing diet quality in the context of child obesity willalso be discussed.

Data were analysed from 4—16 year old par-ticipants of the 2007 Australian National Nutritionand Physical Activity Survey (n = 3416). Eleven indexitems reflecting the dietary guidelines were devel-oped (total possible score of 100). The mean DGI-CAscore was 53.6 ± 15.2 (range 5.98—92.3). Childrenmost commonly scored full points for the ‘Meatand alternatives’ indicator (49—64%) and were leastcommonly scored full points on the ‘Vegetables’indicator (9—15%). Few children scored full pointson the ‘Extra foods’ indicator (20—38%). However,preliminary analysis found only a weak relation-ship between DQI-CA score and weight status. Thisidentified areas for further analysis and may reflectfactors such as under-reporting, the indicators andscoring system, as well as foods included for anal-ysis.

The DGI-CA is a food-based diet index appropri-ate for use with Australian children. With furthervalidation, this index could be used to monitor pop-ulation nutrition, as well as inform and evaluatechild obesity interventions.

doi:10.1016/j.orcp.2010.09.172

How much do we believe what families tell usabout dietary change? Validation and reporting ofdietary outcomes

Tracy Burrows

School of Health Sciences, University of Newcastle

Studies that include dietary outcomes as partof evaluating child obesity interventions are lim-ited. This may reflect the range of challengesassociated with assessing diet in children includ-

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Invited Speakers

ng: limited availability of validated tools for useith paediatric populations; cost and participant-urden associated with dietary assessment; andhild-specific considerations such as age, cognitivebilities, portions size estimates and parent ver-us child reporting. Food frequency questionnairesFFQ) are one type of dietary assessment methodhat and are commonly used in studies with largeample sizes. The Australian Child and Adolescentating Survey (ACAES) is a semi-quantitative FFQ.his tool has been validated against 24 h recallor self-report use in children aged 9 to 16 andutritional biomarkers for parent report in childrenged 5 to 12. Plasma carotenoids and red bloodell fatty acids showed moderate, but statisticallyignificant correlations (ranging between 0.3—0.6,< 0.05) between parent reported dietary intakesf children 5—12 years and plasma carotenoids asarkers of fruit and vegetable intake in addition to

ed blood cell membrane fatty acids as markers ofat intake. While the absolute values are dependentn other metabolic factors including bioavailabil-ty and efficiency of absorption, results indicateshat when a parent reports an increase in F&V usingCAES, it is reflected in increased total plasmaarotenoids concentration.

Assessment of change in food consumption willnform interventions as people eat food not nutri-nts. Future studies could consider additionaliomarker assessments to assist with validation ofeported of dietary intakes in children.

Report the objectives of the dietary inter-entions. Many studies did not report dietaryutcomes, and it is unclear whether food intakeata was not collected or was collected but notsed because it was of poor quality or becausehe focus in reporting was only on changes in therimary outcome of weight status. If children’sietary intakes are assessed and reported regularlysing similar instruments, comparisons over timend across interventions will be facilitated.

oi:10.1016/j.orcp.2010.09.173

hrelin and neurodegenerative effects on satiety

ane Andrews

Department of Physiology, Monash University

The brain plays a critical role in the regulationf energy homeostasis, glucose homeostasis andbesity. Traditionally the hypothalamus has been

he center of research focus and can be consid-red as the ‘‘homeostatic’’ center regulating foodntake and body weight. Indeed, many hormonesuch as leptin, insulin and ghrelin act within the