Objectives: To develop a concise, simple tool for use by non-specialists to assess dietin children aged 3-7 years attending primary schools.Design: A 24-hour food tick list covering all aspects of the diet and with a focus onfruit and vegetable consumption was developed. This was compared against a24-hour semi-weighed food diary obtained for the same day as the tick list. Setting: Six primary schools with a range of socio-economic and ethnic backgroundsfrom a large city in the north of England (Leeds). Participants: One hundred and eighty children returned completed packs ofinformation; a response rate of 77% of those who were willing to take part, 48% ofthose approached. Results: On average, 2.4 items of fruit including juice (2.1 items as 5-a-day count) wereeaten and 1.6 items of vegetables (excluding potato). Twenty-seven per cent and 36%of boys and 23% and 24% of girls reported not eating any fruit or vegetables,respectively, on the recording day. Correlations comparing the diary and tick list werehigh for both foods (range r = 0.44 to 0.89) and nutrients (range r = 0.41 to 0.68). The level of misclassification was much less than would be expected by chance. Parentand teacher evaluation of the tick list was very positive. Parents felt the tick list waseasy and quick to complete. Conclusion: The Child and Diet Evaluation Tool (CADET) tick list has been usedsuccessfully for rapid collection of food and nutrient information from children aged3-7 years from diverse social and ethnic backgrounds. The tool has performed betterthan many food-frequency questionnaires in comparison to a food diary.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)