Fruits and vegies in lunchboxes – accuracy of a prospective 24-hour food record for primary school children

Issues addressed To explore the accuracy of reported fruit and vegetable contents of primary school children's lunchboxes compared with observed lunchbox contents as an indicator of overall accuracy of completion of a 24-hour food record developed for the Tooty Fruity Vegie (TFV) project. Method Parents or older children completed the TFV food records, including a section about foods packed in children's lunchboxes. As children arrived at school the next day, trained observers compared lunchboxes' actual fruit and vegetable contents against reported information. Comparisons were made for 241 children (76% response rate). Pearsons correlations tested agreement between amounts of fruits and vegetables reported on TFV food records and those observed in corresponding lunchboxes. Paired t-tests assessed differences between the two methods. As many children had no fruits and/or vegetables in their lunchboxes, analyses were conducted: 1) for all children; and 2) for only those with fruits and vegetables. Results Amounts of fruits and vegetables observed in children's lunchboxes were very similar to those reported in TFV food records, with non-significant mean differences of less than 0.005 serves for both. Lunchbox observations remained highly correlated with TFV food records even when only children with fruits or vegetables were included. Conclusion The TFV food record accurately measured fruits and vegetables in children's lunchboxes. While offering reasonable confidence in overall reported fruit intakes, further research is needed to confirm the accuracy of overall reported vegetable intakes.