FAQs

The AES is suitable for individuals aged 2 years and above. It is not recommended that the AES be used for individuals younger than 2 years of age. The AES asks you about how often you eat foods commonly consumed in Australia. Therefore individuals who have food intolerances or allergies or who avoid certain food groups may not get an accurate assessment of their usual intake in this instance.

You will be asked how often you eat a select number of foods in the past few of months. The foods that are listed have been selected as they are representative of the majority of foods eaten by Australian children, adolescents and adults. When answering the AES questions consider how often you’ve eaten the foods over the past 3-6 months. The time range may be further specified by researchers for individuals who are participating in research studies.

The AES takes around 15 minutes to complete. Your feedback report (if made available to you) will be available within 5 minutes of completing the AES.

The AES provides an estimate of your usual food and nutrient intake. This includes energy, protein, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, alcohol, fibre. The current version of the AES also assesses 15 nutrients: dietary fibre, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, folate, calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C phosphorous, zinc, iron, magnesium, sodium, iodine and potassium.

The AES has is responsive to several browsers but is optimised for Google Chrome. We recommend using Google Chrome as primary browser for the best user-experience.

Your AES results are compared to the Nutrient Reference Values and the Australian Dietary Guidelines developed using the best available evidence and endorsed by the National Health and Medical Research Council. You can find out more about these national nutrition recommendations at www.eatforhealth.gov.au

If you are wishing to purchase a survey for yourself or for your family or friends, please click here

If you are a researcher, dietitian or other clinician wishing to purchase the AES in bulk, please click here

If your patients do not complete all questions, a report will not be generated. However, if the AES has been completed up to and beyond the first section containing the General Questions – data will be available as part of the data export for all participants or patients. The data export is available upon request. See the last question of this FAQ section for more information

The questions on eating behaviours in the first section of the AES are adapted for use in adults. The food lists across the two surveys are the same, however to calculate your food and nutrient intake, different portion sizes are used for adults, toddlers and children. Each AES report generated after the completion of the survey questions is tailored to national recommendations for age, gender and life stage (e.g. pregnancy or breastfeeding).

Yes. A report is automatically generated for each completed survey, however as a clinician you can control whether or not an automated email with a link to the report is sent to your patients immediately after the report has been generated. Further information on this feature is available here.

The AES allows for a comprehensive assessment of usual dietary intake to be undertaken in less than 20 minutes. The results are presented in an interactive online report which can be saved and printed for future reference. We recommend that you disable the automatic email notification that is sent to the individual following the completion of the survey and generation of the feedback report. This will allow you to use the report within the consultation(s) with your patients. The online format of the AES offers flexibility to when and how your patients complete the nutrition assessment (e.g prior to the appointment or in the waiting room).

The AES is a food frequency questionnaire that is designed to estimate usual dietary intake over the past 3-6 months using a list of 120 commonly consumed foods. Depending on your clientele, you may wish to include addition questions or assessment tools to complement the AES analysis.

AUSNUT 2011-2013 is the most recent food composition database for Australia and New Zealand. For the Australian Eating Survey, the key difference between AUSNUT 2011-2013 and AUSNUT 1999 is the availability of more nutrients in the data export. See Table 2 and Table 3 in the AES User manual for the differences in nutrients: https://drive.google.com/file/...

For more information on the differences between the two food composition databases please see the FSANZ website:
https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/science/monitoringnutrients/afcd/Pages/default.aspx

No, use of portion size photos is redundant for the AES as portion sizes are predetermined based on average portion size of the relevant food based on age and for adults gender.

AUSNUT 2011-2013 is the most recent food composition database for Australia and New Zealand. For the Australian Eating Survey, the key difference between AUSNUT 2011-2013 and AUSNUT 1999 is the availability of more nutrients in the data export. See Table 2 and Table 3 in the AES User manual for the differences in nutrients: https://drive.google.com/file/...

For more information on the differences between the two food composition databases please see the FSANZ website:
https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/science/monitoringnutrients/afcd/Pages/default.aspx

If your participants do not complete all questions, a report will not be generated. However, data for all your incomplete surveys will be available as part of the data export for all participants. The data export is then available upon request.

The questions on eating behaviours in the first section of the AES are adapted for use in either adults or children/adolescents. The food lists across the two surveys are the same, however to calculate the food and nutrient intakes, different portion sizes are used for adults, toddlers and children. Each AES report generated after the completion of the survey questions is tailored to national recommendations for age, gender and life stage (e.g. pregnancy, breastfeeding).

Yes. A report is automatically generated for each completed survey, however as a researcher you can control whether or not an automated email with a link to the report is sent to your participants immediately after the report has been generated. Further information on this feature is available here.

No, use of portion size photos is redundant for the AES as portion sizes are predetermined based on average portion size of the relevant food based on age and for adults gender.

Researchers referencing the AES FFQs should use the following citation.

Toddler

Collins CE, Burrows TL, Truby H, Morgan PJ, Wright I, Davies PSW, Callister R. Comparison of energy intake in toddlers assessed by food frequency questionnaire and total energy expenditure measured by the doubly labelled water method. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2013 Mar;113(3):459-63.

Children

Watson JF, Collins CE, Dibley MJ, Garg MG, Sibbritt D. The reproducibility and validity of a food-frequency questionnaire for school-aged children. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 2009, 6:62. www.ijbnpa.org/content/6/1/62.

Adult

Collins CE, Watson JF, Guest M, Boggess MM, Duncanson K, Pezdirc K, Rollo M, Hutchesson MJ, Burrows TL. Reproducibility and comparative validity of a food frequency questionnaire for adults. Clin Nutr. 2014 Oct;33(5):906-14.

The following paragraphs may be used to describe the AES FFQs in publications and reports

The AES FFQ is a 120-item FFQ with 15 supplementary questions. The FFQ is designed to collect information about dietary intake over the participants previous 6 months. It is a semi-quantitative FFQ with a standard portion size provided for each food item and determined using ‘natural’ serving size (eg. slice of bread) where possible. In the absence of a natural serving size, portion sizes were derived from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) unpublished data from the 1995 National Nutrition Survey (NNS) for children, adolescents and adults, with the data for toddlers derived from the 2007 National Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey, purchased from the Australian Social Science Data Archive at the Australian National University. An individual response for each food, or food type, is required, with frequency options ranging from ‘Never’ to ‘4 or more times per day’, but varied depending on the food, with some drinks items up to ‘7 or more glasses per day’. Nineteen questions relate directly to intake of different vegetables and 1 to consumption at the evening meal and 11 relate to fruit, with the availability of some seasonal fruits adjusted for in the nutrient calculations. The availability of seasonal fruit was determined by data obtained from fresh food markets in Sydney, New South Wales, in addition to referring to supermarket literature that indicated the number of months each year that seasonal fruit was available.

The AES FFQs has been thoroughly evaluated for reliability and validity in Australian toddlers, children and adults and has demonstrated acceptable accuracy for ranking nutrient intakes. The AES FFQs has been validated against biomarkers and food records (see references below). In addition, a diet quality index for children and adolescents, the Australian Child and Adolescent Recommended Food Score (ACARFS) has been developed (Marshall 2012). Additional validation studies related to the AES FFQs in toddlers, children and adults have been completed (see references below).

Nutrient intakes from the FFQ were computed using the Australian food composition database, [select the relevant database used either AusNut 1999 (All Foods) Revision 17 or AusNut 2011-2013 depending on food composition database chosen upon set up], primarily and AusFoods (Brands) Revision 5 (Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra) to generate individual mean daily macro- and micronutrient intakes.

The AES includes additional questions about daily consumption of fruit, vegetables, dairy products, sweetened beverages and snack foods, as well as the type of bread and dairy products used. Six questions address health-related behaviours such as frequency of consumption of breakfast, takeaway food and vitamin supplements, with further questions about sedentary activities, specifically time spent watching television or playing computer games.

Validity and reliability of the AES®

Comparative Validity

• Watson JF, Collins CE, Dibley MJ, Garg MG, Sibbritt D. The reproducibility and validity of a food-frequency questionnaire for school-aged children. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 2009, 6:62. www.ijbnpa.org/content/6/1/62.
• Collins CE, Watson JF, Guest M, Boggess MM, Duncanson K, Pezdirc K, Rollo M, Hutchesson MJ, Burrows TL. Reproducibility and comparative validity of a food frequency questionnaire for adults. Clin Nutr. 2014 Oct; 33(5):906-14. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=PMID%3A+24144913

Biomarker - Doubly labelled water

Toddler

• Collins CE, Burrows TL, Truby H, Morgan PJ, Wright I, Davies PSW, Callister R. Comparison of energy intake in toddlers assessed by food frequency questionnaire and total energy expenditure measured by the doubly labelled water method. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2013 Mar;113(3):459-63.

Parent vs Child

• Burrows TL, Truby H, Morgan PJ, Callister R, Davies PSW and Collins CE. A comparison and validation of child versus parent reporting of children’s energy intake using food frequency questionnaires versus food records: who’s an accurate reporter? Clin Nutr. 2013 Aug; 32(4):613-618. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=PMID%3A+23206381

Biomarker - Carotenoids

• Burrows TL, Warren JM, Colyvas K, Garg ML, Collins CE. Validation of Overweight Children's Fruit and Vegetable Intake Using Plasma Carotenoids. Obesity. 2009 Jan;17(1):162-8.
• Burrows TL, Hutchesson MJ, Rollo M, Boggess MM. Guest M, Collins CE. Fruit and vegetable intake assessed by the Australian Eating Survey food frequency questionnaire and plasma carotenoids: a validation study in adults. Nutrients 2015 May 6; 7(5):3240-51. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=PMID%3A+25954899

Biomarker – fatty acids

• Burrows T, Berthon B, Garg ML, Collins CE. A comparative validation of a child food frequency questionnaire using red blood cell membrane fatty acids. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2012 Jul;66(7):825-9.
• Schumacher TL, Burrows TL, Rollo ME, Wood LG, Callister R, Collins CE. Comparison of fatty acid intakes assessed by a cardiovascular-specific food frequency questionnaire with red blood cell membrane fatty acids in hyperlipidaemic Australian adults: A validation study.EJCN, 2016 Dec;70(12):1433-1438. doi: 10.1038/ejcn.2016.14

Validity and reliability of the Australian Recommended Food Score (ARFS)

Comparative Validity

• Burrows TL, Collins K, Watson JF, Guest M, Boggess MM, Hutchesson MJ, Rollo M, Duncanson K, Collins CE. Validity of the Australian Recommended Food Score as a diet quality index for Preschoolers. Nutrition Journal 2014, 13:87. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=PMID%3A+25178263
• Collins CE, Burrows TL, Rollo ME, Boggess MM, Watson JF, Guest M, Duncanson K, Pezdirc K, Hutchesson MJ. The comparative validity and reproducibility of a diet quality index for adults: the Australian Recommended Food Score. Nutrients 2015, 7(2), 785-798. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=PMID%3A+25625814
• Marshall S, Watson J, Burrows T, Guest M, Collins C. The development and evaluation of the Australian child and adolescent recommended food score: a cross-sectional study. Nutr. J. 2012;11: 96

Biomarker - Carotenoids

• Ashton, L.; Williams, R.; Wood, L.; Schumacher T, Burrows T, Rollo M, Pezdirc K, Callister R, Collins C. (2017) Comparison of Australian Recommended Food Score (ARFS) and Plasma Carotenoid Concentrations: A Validation Study in Adults. Nutrients, 9, 888
• Ashton L, Pezdirc K, Hutchesson M, Rollo ME, Collins CE (2017) Is Skin Coloration Measured by Reflectance Spectroscopy Related to Intake of Nutrient-Dense Foods? A Cross-Sectional Evaluation in Australian Young Adults. Nutrients. 10(1):11. Impact factor: 4.196, 2017

Yes. A report will not be generated until all questions in the AES have been completed.

If you do not complete the AES in one sitting you can come back and finish at a later date. To access your AES and complete at a later date, you can log back in to you personal dashboard using your username and password and click 'continue'

After you complete the survey, your responses will be analysed and your feedback report generated. This process should only take a couple of minutes to complete. You will receive an email that will contain a link to your AES report. This link is unique to your report and you access the report at any time. You can also print and save the report. This report will also be saved in your personal dashboard on the AES website so you can track your progress over time.

If you are completing the AES as part of a research study or at the request of your dietitian or other health professionals, you may not have immediate access to your report. Please contact the researcher or clinician for more information.

If you have purchased a copy for your own use and are completing it yourself or as a parent or on behalf of a minor (e.g. parent, guardian etc.), the information that you provide when completing the AES will be used to analyse the dietary intake and provide a tailored feedback report.

If you give your consent your de-identified data will pooled with the data of others and be used in an anonymous way by the AES research team at the University of Newcastle to assess the food and nutrient intakes of Australians and develop programs to help improve dietary patterns. See privacy policy for further information on how your information will be stored and used.

If you are completing the AES as part of participation in a research study or as part of your health care, you will have consented to either the researcher who is managing the research study or the clinician accessing this data.