Dairy food consumption is important for Australian children as it contributes key nutrients such as protein and Ca. The aim of the present paper is to describe dietary intake from dairy foods for Australian children aged 2–16 years in 2007.

Secondary analysis of a quota-sampled survey using population-weighted, 1 d (24 h) dietary recall data.

Australian national survey conducted from February to August 2007.

Children (n 4487) aged 2–16 years.

Most Australian children consumed dairy foods (84–98 %), with the proportion consuming tending to decrease with age and males consuming significantly more than females from the age of 4 years. Milk was the most commonly consumed dairy food (58–88 %) and consumed in the greatest amount (243–384 g/d). Most children consumed regular-fat dairy products. The contribution of dairy foods to total energy intake decreased with age; from 22 % of total energy at age 2–3 years to 11 % at age 14–16 years. This trend was similar for all nutrients analysed. Dairy food intake peaked between 06.00 and 10.00 hours (typical breakfast hours) corresponding with the peak in dairy Ca intake. Australian children (older than 4 years) did not reach recommendations for dairy food intake, consuming ≤2 servings/d.

The under-consumption of dairy foods by Australian children has important implications for intake of key nutrients and should be addressed by multiple strategies.

To examine the utility of a shorter FFQ compared with a longer FFQ, both of which are commonly used in Australia.

Comparative study.

Community setting.

One hundred and fifty-nine men (mean 55 (sem 7) years) screened for participation in an intervention study completed both the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation FFQ and the Cancer Council of Victoria FFQ. Agreement between both questionnaires was assessed according to Bland–Altman plots and limits of agreement (LOA) and ordinary least products regression to test for the presence of fixed and proportional bias.

There was good relative agreement between the methods for energy and macronutrients (Pearson’s correlation coefficients: energy r = 0·7, protein r = 0·6, fat r = 0·8, carbohydrate r = 0·7, alcohol r = 0·8; P < 0·01). Mean group-level agreement for the majority of nutrients (70 %) fell between 80 % and 110 %. According to the criteria used (maximum LOA was 50–200 % and no significant proportional bias), there was acceptable agreement between the FFQ for energy and total saturated and monounsaturated fat, but not for protein, carbohydrate and fibre. Micronutrients that did not meet the agreement criteria including calcium, iron, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin and folate. When the data were analysed according to quintiles, the majority of subjects were either in exactly the same quintile or within one quintile for most nutrients, and 1–2 % were grossly misclassified by three or four quintiles.

We conclude that there is sufficient agreement between the instruments for group-level comparisons in men, but they are not interchangeable for estimation of individual intakes.