Background – The high consumption of non-core or ‘extra’ foods is of concern as they may contribute to excessive energy intakes and replace more nutritious foods in the diet. The definitions used to classify ‘extra’ foods are inconsistent and need to be standardised.
Objective – To develop a classification system to identify ‘extra’ foods which can be used in the analysis of dietary intake data and development of nutrition policy in Australia.
Design – Two sets of criteria to identify ‘extra’ foods were developed based on standards for fat and sugar content; one set was based on principles outlined in the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (AGHE) and, the other set was more stringent and followed the additional principles outlined in the Dietary Guidelines (AGHE+). The energy and nutrient contribution of ‘extra’ foods based on these two sets of criteria were compared, using dietary data for children aged 2-18 years who participated in the 1995 NNS.
Outcomes – Using the AGHE criteria, ‘extra’ foods contributed 41% of energy, 19% of protein, 48% of fat, 54% of sugar and 20-30% of micronutrient intakes. By comparison, using the AGHE+ criteria, ‘extra’ foods contributed 70% of energy, 58% of protein, 82% of fat, 80% of sugar and 60-70% of micronutrients.
Conclusion – ‘Extra’ foods contribute to a large proportion of energy, fat and sugar intake in the diets of Australian children, using either set of criteria. However, the AGHE+ system is too stringent, in that it includes many foods that would be regarded as high-fat or high sugar forms of core foods. We recommend the AGHE criteria be considered more widely for use in identifying ‘extra’ foods. This set of criteria uses defined cut-points for each food category and yields results similar to the few international studies which have assessed the contribution of energy- dense, nutrient-poor foods to the total diet. It is important that there is agreement on standardised criteria to identify ‘extra’ foods.