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Abstract Background Dietary intake during childhood and adolescence is of increasing interest due to its influence on adult health, particularly obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. There is a need to develop and validate dietary assessment methods suitable for large epidemiologic studies of children and adolescents. Limited large scale dietary studies of youth have been undertaken in Australia, due partly to the lack of a suitable dietary intake tool. A self-administered, semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ), the 'Australian Child and Adolescent Eating Survey' (ACAES), was developed for youth aged 9-16 years. This study evaluated reproducibility and comparative validity of the ACAES FFQ using assisted food records (FRs) as the reference method. Methods The ACAES FFQ was completed twice (FFQ1 and FFQ2) at an interval of 5 months, along with four one-day assisted FRs. Validity was evaluated by comparing the average of the FRs with FFQ2 (n = 113) as well as with the average of FFQ1 and FFQ2 (n = 101). Reproducibility was evaluated by comparing FFQ1 and FFQ2 (n = 101). The two methods were compared using correlations, Kappa statistics and Bland-Altman plots. Results Correlation coefficients for comparative validity ranged from 0.03 for retinol to 0.56 for magnesium for transformed, energy-adjusted, deattenuated nutrient data, with correlation coefficients greater than 0.40 for total fat, saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, carbohydrate, sugars, riboflavin, vitamin C, folate, beta-carotene, magnesium, calcium and iron. Correlation coefficients for reproducibility ranged from 0.18 for vitamin A to 0.50 for calcium for transformed, energy-adjusted, deattenuated nutrient data. The ACAES FFQ ranked individuals reasonably accurately, with the comparative validity analysis showing that over 50% of participants were classified within one quintile for all nutrients, with only a small percentage grossly misclassified (0-7%). Conclusion The ACAES FFQ is the first child and adolescent specific FFQ available for ranking the dietary intakes of Australian children and adolescents for a range of nutrients in epidemiologic research and public health interventions.

Long-chain n-3 PUFA are considered important for cardiovascular health and brain development. Meat other than fish contributes significantly to total intakes of long-chain n-3 PUFA in adults; however, there are limited published data examining the intake of individual meat sources in children and adolescents in the Australian population. A review of literature was conducted using PubMed, Agricola and CAB Abstracts using the terms ‘intake’, ‘beef’, ‘lamb’, ‘pork’, ‘poultry’, ‘fish’, ‘children’ and ‘adolescents’ and using reference lists in published articles. Studies and surveys were identified that contained published values for intakes of meat or fish. Two national dietary surveys of children and adolescents were conducted in Australia in 1985 and 1995 and two regional surveys were conducted in Western Sydney and Western Australia in 1994 and 2003, respectively. Comprehensive data for the intake of individual meat sources were not reported from the 1995 survey, but estimations of intake were calculated from published values. Reported intakes of meat and fish are generally lower in females than males and tend to increase with age. Weighted mean intakes of red meat (beef plus lamb) across the three most recent studies were 67·3 and 52·2 g/d, respectively, for males and females aged between 7 and 12 years and 87·7 and 54·2 g/d, respectively, for males and females aged 12–18 years. These weighted intakes are within Australian guidelines and are likely to contribute significantly to total long-chain n-3 PUFA intake in children and adolescents in the Australian population. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 2011-2012 approximately 26% of Australian children aged between 5-17 years were reported to be overweight or obese. Furthermore, the increase in prevalence of overweight and obesity among US children parallels reported increases in energy intake and portion sizes of common foods, leading to the recognition that availability of larger portion sizes contributes to the rise in overweight and obesity prevalence. Thus, the aim of this time-series analysis was to investigate whether selected food portion sizes in Australian children aged 2-16 years changed between 2007 and 2011-2012. Portion size data from 24-h recalls collected in Australian nutrition surveys were compared between 2007 and 2011-2012. Portion sizes changed significantly in 23% of items with increases in 15% and decreases in 8%. Changes in portion sizes varied by age, sex, and food group. Changes occurred for many meat-based items, energy-dense, nutrient-poor food items, breads, cereals, and some fruits and vegetables. Vegetable and fruit portion sizes were below the respective serving sizes of 75 g and 150 g in the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, while portion sizes of some energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods have increased. These findings suggest approaches to increasing consumption of nutrient-dense core foods and reducing energy-dense, nutrient-poor food items in children are warranted., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.