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  • Original Article
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Changes in core food intake among Australian children between 1995 and 2007

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

To assess the changes in the consumption of core foods among Australian children between the 1995 National Nutrition Survey (1995 NNS) and the 2007 Australian National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (2007 Children's Survey).

Subjects/Methods:

Core food consumption was analysed using 24-h recall data from 2–16 year old children using the 1995 NNS (n=2435) and the 2007 Children's Survey (n=4380). Differences in percent consuming, amounts consumed and percent energy contribution were assessed.

Results:

The consumption of core foods increased significantly between the 1995 and 2007 surveys, including per-capita consumption and percent energy contribution (both P0.001). Core foods contributed to 59% of energy intake in 1995 compared with 65% in 2007. The types of core foods consumed also changed during this time period with more children reporting eating healthy options such as wholemeal bread, reduced-fat milk, reduced-fat cheese and fruit in the 2007 Children's Survey. Conversely, the consumption of white bread, full-fat milk and low-fibre breakfast cereals was lower in 2007.

Conclusions:

Overall, reported dietary intake had improved from 1995 to 2007 among Australian children with an increase in the amounts of core foods consumed and healthier types of foods being chosen. Continued health-promotion activities and monitoring of food consumption are highly warranted.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge that the original data of the 2007 Australian National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey were collected by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the University of South Australia, and was kindly provided to us via the Australian Social Sciences Data Archives. We declare that the original authors and researchers of this survey bear no responsibility in the findings from our secondary analysis of the survey. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

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Correspondence to A M Rangan.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Contributors: AMR, VMF and TPG were involved in the conception of the study. JCYL, JSLK and AMR were involved in the coding of food groups. AMR and JSLK performed the statistical analyses. JSLK and AMR drafted the manuscript. All authors were involved in the subsequent edits of the manuscript, and have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Rangan, A., Kwan, J., Louie, J. et al. Changes in core food intake among Australian children between 1995 and 2007. Eur J Clin Nutr 65, 1201–1210 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2011.109

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