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The Canadian Food Intake Screener/Questionnaire court canadien sur les apports alimentaires was developed to rapidly assess alignment of adults’ dietary intake over the past month with the 2019 Canada Food Guide’s healthy food choices recommendations. From July to December 2021, adults (n=154) aged 18-65 years completed the screener and up to two 24-hour dietary recalls. The screener scoring system was aligned with the Healthy Eating Food Index-2019 (HEFI-2019), to the extent possible. ANOVA compared screener scores among subgroups with known differences in diet quality. Using the recall data, the National Cancer Institute multivariate method was used to model HEFI-2019 components, with the screener score as a covariate, and the correlation coefficient between screener and total HEFI-2019 scores was estimated. The mean screener score was 35 points (SD=4.7; maximum, 65), ranging from 25 (1stpercentile) to 45 (99thpercentile). Differences in scores in hypothesized directions were evident by gender identity (p=0.06), perceived income adequacy (p=0.07), education (p=0.02), and smoking status (p=0.003). The correlation between screener and HEFI-2019 scores was 0.53 (SE=0.12). The screener’s moderate construct validity supports its use for rapid assessment of alignment of adults’ intake with the healthy food choices recommendations when comprehensive dietary assessment is not possible.NoveltyThe Canadian Food Intake Screener was developed to rapidly assess alignment of dietary intake with Canada’s Food Guide-2019 healthy food choices recommendations.Scoring is aligned with the Healthy Eating Food Index-2019, to the extent possible.Among a sample of adults, variation in screener scores was noted, mean screener scores differed between some subgroups with known differences in diet quality, and a moderate correlation between screener scores and total Healthy Eating Food Index-2019 scores based on repeat 24-hour dietary recalls was observed.The Canadian Food Intake Screener has moderate construct validity for rapid assessment of overall alignment of adults’ dietary intake with the Canada’s Food Guide-2019 healthy food choices recommendations when comprehensive dietary assessment is not possible.

The release of Canada’s Food Guide (CFG) in 2019 by Health Canada prompted the development of indices to measure adherence to these updated dietary recommendations for Canadians. This study describes the development and scoring standards of the Healthy Eating Food Index (HEFI-2019), which is intended to measure alignment of eating patterns with CFG-2019 recommendations on food choices among Canadians aged 2 years and older. Alignment with the intent of each key recommendation in the CFG-2019 was the primary principle guiding the development of the HEFI-2019. Additional considerations included previously published indices, data on Canadians’ dietary intakes from the 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey-Nutrition, and expert judgement. The HEFI-2019 includes 10 components: Vegetables and fruits (20 points), Whole-grain foods (5 points), Grain foods ratio (5 points), Protein foods (5 points), Plant-based protein foods (5 points), Beverages (10 points), Fatty acids ratio (5 points), Saturated fats (5 points), Free sugars (10 points), and Sodium (10 points). All components are expressed as ratios (e.g., proportions of total foods, total beverages, or total energy). The HEFI-2019 score has a maximum of 80 points. Potential uses of the HEFI-2019 include research as well as monitoring and surveillance of food choices in population-based surveys. Novelty: The Healthy Eating Food Index-2019 was developed to measure adherence to the 2019 Canada's Food Guide recommendations on healthy food choices. The HEFI-2019 includes 10 components, of which 5 are based on foods, 1 on beverages and 4 on nutrients, for a total of 80 points.

Although obesity was rarely observed among children 30 years ago, it is now evident among Canadian children of all ages. Currently, 15.2% of 2- to 5-year-old children are overweight, whereas 6.3% are obese. Limited data suggest that poor dietary and physical activity patterns are increasing obesity risk among these young children. Body weight and lifestyle behaviours are known to track from childhood to adulthood, thereby increasing the risk for obesity and other chronic diseases later in life. Intrauterine life, infancy, and the preschool years may all include critical periods that program the long-term regulation of energy balance, and therefore obesity-prevention strategies should be initiated in utero and continue throughout childhood and adolescence. Although single-strategy obesity-prevention initiatives have had limited success, programs that target multiple behaviours may help reduce body weight and body fat among young children. Parental involvement is key to the success of obesity-prevention programs at a young age, as parents have primary control over their children’s food and activity environments. Accordingly, parental obesity is the best predictor of childhood obesity. Parents should be encouraged to teach and role model healthy lifestyle behaviours for their young children. Health professionals can also be involved in obesity prevention, as they are ideally placed to identify young children at risk for obesity. By calculating and plotting the body mass index for all children, and initiating obesity-prevention strategies in utero, health professionals can help curb the rise in overweight and obesity among young children.