An update of the KIDMED questionnaire, a Mediterranean Diet Quality Index in children and adolescents

Abstract

Objective: The KIDMED questionnaire was published in 2004 to evaluate adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) in children and adolescents. In the last 14 years, several respected official dietetics and health organizations have recommended appropriate dietary habits, including eating whole grains and consuming whole fruit rather than fruit juice. We propose an update of the KIDMED questionnaire. Design: Based on the scientific evidence, the present commentary suggests some changes to the KIDMED questionnaire. Results: We suggest deleting ‘or fruit juice’ from the first question of the questionnaire, rewording the question as ‘Takes a fruit every day’, and assigning a positive value of +1. We suggest adding ‘whole-grain’ to the eighth question of the questionnaire, rewording the question as ‘Consumes whole-grain pasta or whole-grain rice almost every day (5 or more times per week)’, and assigning a positive value of +1. Further, we propose to add ‘whole cereals or whole grains’ to the ninth question of the questionnaire, reword the question as ‘Has whole cereals or whole grains (whole-meal bread, etc.) for breakfast’, and assign a positive value of +1. Conclusions: The present commentary examines some signs of a paradigm shift about fruit juice and whole grains after the development of the KIDMED questionnaire. The changes are of paramount importance in order to make the questionnaire an updated tool to evaluate adherence to the MD.