Update of the University of Otago Food Cost Survey. Part Two: Revision of the New Zealand Food Cost Survey to adhere to Food and Nutrient-based Dietary Guidelines

Background: The New Zealand Food Cost Survey (NZFCS) estimates the cost of a basic basket of foods. Costing is completed annually to update the price of the food basket. The New Zealand Food Basket has not been updated recently and may no longer reflect current consumption patterns in New Zealand. Part one of the update, which was completed in early 2013, consisted of updating the foods in the basket to reflect common consumption using Adult Nutrition Survey 2008/09 data (ANS 2008/09). Part two involves further updating the Food Basket by altering the gram amounts of the foods to ensure it adheres to food and nutrient-based guidelines for eight different age and sex groups. Objective: The first objective of this project is to design composite diets with specific gram amounts of commonly consumed New Zealand foods that meet food-based dietary guidelines for eight age and sex groups. The second is to compare the composite diets against Nutrient Reference Values (NRV) for a healthy New Zealand population. The last objective is to cost the resultant food baskets. Design: The food basket was designed to reflect New Zealand Ministry of Health dietary guidelines. Composite diets for eight age and sex groups were designed from the guidelines and then entered into Kai-culator dietary analysis software to determine the nutrient composition. The macronutrient levels assessed were: Energy, carbohydrate, protein, total fat, monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat and saturated fat. The micronutrients assessed were sodium, calcium, iodine, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, potassium, selenium, zinc, vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, vitamin B12, vitamin C, vitamin D and vitamin E. Fibre levels were also assessed. The food basket was modified to fit the guidelines and the resultant baskets were costed. Results: Composite diets were established that met all NRV and dietary guidelines for all age and sex groups except for the 1-year-old diet. The food basket was altered to meet NRV, which included replacing monounsaturated oil with a high polyunsaturated oil blend and addition of peanuts to rectify low unsaturated fat levels in all groups. Additionally, butter was removed from the composite diets for children that were five years and younger to reduce saturated fat levels. Sodium was higher than the upper limit for all age and sex groups, which reflects the high sodium content of some commonly consumed foods in New Zealand. The costing maintained a similar trend to the original food basket, except for adolescent males, which had much lower cost than expected due to reductions in food allocation. Conclusion: We are confident that the updated food basket reflects New Zealand’s food consumption patterns and meets dietary guidelines and NRV for all age and sex groups except for 1-year-olds. The cost of the adolescent male food basket was significantly lower than it has been previously because during the update, food allocation was reduced to fit energy requirements