Canada’s food guide research tools assess the extent a group of individuals are following Canada’s food guide. Using these tools helps produce standardized research findings that can be compared. The findings can help inform considerations for healthy eating education and policy initiatives.
On this page
Overview of the tools
These research tools assess how eating patterns align with Canada’s food guide. These include:
- Healthy Eating Food Index 2019
- Dietary screeners
There are various factors to consider when deciding which tool is the most appropriate to use. These include:
- the research question
- the dietary intake data available
- the time available to complete the assessment
Healthy Eating Food Index 2019
The Healthy Eating Food Index 2019 provides a diet quality score. The score measures how dietary patterns align with Canada’s food guide healthy food choice recommendations.
This research tool uses complete dietary intake data, such as a 24-hour recalls, preferably with repeated recalls.
Researchers can use the tool to:
- provide a proxy measure of total diet quality of a population or group of individuals according to Canada’s food guide
- examine associations between diet quality based on Canada’s food guide, socio-demographic variables or health outcomes
- assess the extent that dietary intakes of a population or group of individuals are aligned with specific Canada’s food guide recommendations
Components of the Healthy Eating Food Index 2019
The index score is on a scale of 0 to 80 points.
The index assesses 10 components that relate to Canada’s food guide, including:
- vegetables and fruits
- whole grain foods
- grain foods ratio
- protein foods
- plant-based protein foods
- beverages
- fatty acids ratio
- saturated fats
- free sugars
- sodium
Dietary screeners
Canada’s food guide dietary screeners are designed for use in research settings to assess a population’s or group of individuals’ overall eating patterns and practices. The screeners should not be used to assess an individuals’ eating patterns and practices.
They are self-administered short questionnaires that provide an assessment of dietary intake or eating practices over the past month. They are designed for adults aged 18 to 65 years old with marginal or higher health literacy. They can be completed within 5 minutes.
The screeners capture the main elements of the food guide healthy eating recommendations. However, due to their brevity, they are not comprehensive. The screeners should be used in full to ensure enough information is provided for the assessment.
Questions have been designed for research purposes and should not be interpreted as dietary guidance or policy. They are not intended to inform decisions on dietary treatment or intervention at the individual level. The screeners have not yet been evaluated to detect change over time or in response to a program or an intervention.
Canadian Food Intake Screener
The Canadian Food Intake Screener assesses eating patterns based on Canada’s food guide recommendations on healthy food choices. The screener is a practical tool to assess food intake quickly. This tool can be used when a more comprehensive dietary assessment, such as a 24-hour recall, is not possible.
The Canadian Food Intake Screener is scored on a scale from 0 to 65.
The screener includes 16 questions that assess consumption of:
- vegetables and fruits
- whole-grain foods
- grain foods ratio
- protein foods
- plant-based protein foods
- unsaturated oils
- foods and beverages high in sugars
- foods high in sodium/saturated fat
Canadian Eating Practices Screener
The Canadian Eating Practices Screener assesses eating practices based on Canada’s food guide. The screener is a practical tool to assess eating practices quickly. This tool can be used when a more comprehensive assessment is not possible.
The Canadian Eating Practices Screener is scored on a scale from 21 to 105 points. The screener includes 21 questions that assess eating practices, such as:
- being mindful of eating habits
- taking time to eat
- noticing hunger cues
- cooking more often
- planning meals
- involve others in planning and preparing meals
- enjoying food
- eating meals with others
- using food labels
- being aware of food marketing
How to access the tools
Refer to the Open Government link to access the research tools and for more information on how to use them.
