How much variety is there in the food you eat?
Answer the following questions about your diet to find out.

Adapted from: Savige GS, Hsu-Hage BH-H, Wahlqvist ML. Food variety as nutritional therapy. Current Therapeutics 1997: 57-67.

Grains and Cereals
During the past 7 days, which of the following grains and cereals have you eaten?

	Wheat (includes ready-to-eat cereals such as Weet-Bix, Bran Flakes and wholemeal or white bread)
	Rye (includes ready-to-eat products)
	Barley (includes ready-to-eat products)
	Oats (includes ready-to-eat products)
	Rice (includes ready-to-eat products)
	Corn (includes ready-to-eat products)
	All other grains and cereals (eg. Buckwheat, millet, quinoa, sago, semolina, tapioca, triticale)

Fruit
During the past 7 days, which of the following fruits have you eaten?

	Stone fruit (eg. Apricot, avocado, cherries, nectarine, olive, peach, plum, prune)
	Citrus (orange, lemon, mandarines)
	Apples
	Bananas
	Berries (eg. Raspberry, strawberries)
	Grapes (including raisin, sultana)
	Melons (eg. Honeydew, rockmelon, watermelon)
	Pears, nashi
	Tropical fruit (eg. Guava, jackfruit, lychee, mango, papaya, pineapple, star fruit)
	Date, kiwi fruit, passionfruit

Vegetables
During the past 7 days, which of the following vegetables have you eaten?

	Root (eg. Carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, bamboo shoots, beetroot, ginger, parsnip, radish, water chestnut)
	Leafy greens (eg. Spinach, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, silverbeet)
	Marrow-like (eg. Cucumber, eggplant, marrow, pumpkin, squash, swede, turnip, zucchini)
	Flowers (eg. Broccoli, cauliflower, endive, chicory, lettuce)
	Stalks (eg. Celery)
	Onion (eg. Spring onion, garlic, leek)
	Peppers (eg. Capsicum)
	Tomatoes, okra

Legumes/pulses
During the past 7 days, which of the following legumes and pulses have you eaten?

	Beans (eg. Green beans, snow peas, snap beans, peas/dried)
	Adzuki, baked beans, haricot, black beans, black-eye beans, borlotti beans, cannellini beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils, lima beans, lupins, mung beans (sprouts), pinto beans, soya beans (sprouts), soya milk, bean curd

Nuts and seeds
During the past 7 days, have you eaten any of the following nuts and seeds?

Almond, brazil nut, cashew nut, chestnut, coconut, hazelnut, peanuts, peanut butter, pecan nut, pine nut, pistachio nut, pumpkin seed, sesame seed, tahini, hommus, sunflower seed, walnut

Meats
During the past 7 days, which of the following meats have you eaten?

	Pork (including ham and bacon)
	"Red" meat - lamb, beef, veal
	Poultry (eg. Chicken, turkey, duck)
	Game (eg. Quail, wild duck, pigeon)
	Game (eg. Kangaroo, rabbit)
	Liver, brain all other organ meats

Seafood
During the past 7 days, which of the following seafoods have you eaten?

	Shellfish and mollusc (eg. Mussels, squid, oysters, scallops)
	Crustaceans (eg. Prawns, lobster, crab, shrimps)
	Fatty fish (eg. Anchovies, tuna, salmon, sardines, herring, mackerel, kipper, pilchards)
	Fish (saltwater)
	Fish (freshwater)
	Roe (caviar)

Dairy
During the past 7 days, which of the following dairy foods have you eaten?

	Milk, yoghurt without live culture, ice-cream, cheese
	Live cultures (eg yoghurt with live culture, eg. Acidophilus, bifidobacteria)

Eggs
During the past 7 days, have you eaten any eggs?

Eggs, all varieties

Fats and oils
During the past 7 days, which of the following fats and oils have you eaten?

	Oils
	Hard/soft spreads

Fermented foods
During the past 7 days, which of the following fermented foods have you eaten?

	Miso, tempeh, soya sauce
	Sauerkraut
	All other varieties of fermented foods

Beverages
During the past 7 days, which of the following beverages have you consumed?

	Non-alcoholic (tea, coffee, cocoa)
	Alcoholic beverages

Herbs and Spices
During the past 7 days, have you regularly eaten herbs and spices?

Use regularly

Yeast
During the past 7 days, have you eaten any yeast products?

For example: Vegemite, Marmite, brewer's yeast

Fungi
During the past 7 days, have you eaten any fungi?

Any varieties (mushrooms, etc)

Sugar/confectionery
During the past 7 days, have you consumed any confectionery?

Any varieties of confectionery (including soft drinks)

Water
During the past 7 days, have you taken any plain water as a drink?

Water, including mineral water

HOW DID YOU SCORE?

Your score explained.

Total food variety score	Dietary adequacy
30 or more	very good
25-29	good
20-24	fair
10-19	poor
0-9	very poor

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Food Variety Scores Explained

Definition of food variety scores

Food variety scores are a method of assessing dietary adequacy based on the number of different foods consumed within a given time period. Commonly, a day, a week, month or year are used as assessment time periods. Foods are broken into groups preselected by the researcher, and for each food eaten in the given period; a score of 1 is assigned. No points are assigned for frequency of consumption or eating larger portions of the foods.  The above table shows the scoring method for assessing food variety over a period of seven days. A score of 30 would indicate that 30 different foods had been consumed in the week.

The health benefits of food variety

Source: Position Paper: Food Variety.
Bridget H-H. Hsu-Hage¹, Kristi M. Richardson¹, Rowland Watson²
1. Healthy Eating Healthy Living Program, Monash University Building 40, Clayton 3168
2. Department of Human Services, Public Health and Development Division, Melbourne 3000

Overall, the important question is, what is the health significance and importance of eating a diet, which consists of a wide variety of foods? The usefulness of food variety has been validated in many studies focusing on dietary diversity, nutrient adequacy and disease states.

Nutritional adequacy and food variety

One important factor in establishing the usefulness of food variety scores is its ability to predict the nutritional adequacy of various diets. A study by Guthrie and Scheer looking at the diets of black and white Americans found that a simple dietary score could be substituted for the more complex dietary analysis when looking at nutrient intakes. Another study by Randall et al found that greater dietary variety equated with higher levels of nutrient intake. Similarly, Campbell et al found relationships between dietary diversity and biochemical measures of vitamin intake, although this was not necessarily a predictor of nutritional risk. Other studies have looked further into the role of food variety and nutrition related disease or risk.

Nutrition related diseases and food variety

In a broad sense, a high food variety may be protective against some diseases, because foods containing toxins will make a reduced contribution to the overall diet if a greater range of foods are eaten therefore the risk of intoxication is reduced.

Food variety has shown to be beneficial in the prevention of certain disease states. Specifically, an association between increased food variety and lower glycaemic response in both insulin dependent and non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM & NIDDM) has been found . Also, among subjects with Type II diabetes, greater dietary variety was shown to be associated with less macrovascular disease.

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES II) conducted in the US in the period of 1976-1980 found that lack of dietary diversity (among different food groups) was associated with a greater incidence of cardiovascular disease and cancer. It was also found that higher all-cause mortality rates were associated with decreased dietary diversity.

Conclusion

Although different definitions of what constitutes "food variety" exist, the basic premise remains the same. Food variety has been demonstrated to be an accurate predictor of the nutritional adequacy of the diet.   Research has shown that food variety has an important role to play in the prevention of onset of diseases such as diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. The importance of food variety in the diet should be emphasised in promoting healthy eating to the general public.

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