Utilization of a Diet Optimization Model in Ensuring Adequate Intake among Pregnant Women in Selangor, Malaysia

Achieving nutritional requirements for pregnant women in rural or suburban households while maintaining the intake of local and culture-specific foods can be difficult. Usage of a linear programming approach can effectively generate diet optimization models that incorporate local and culturally acceptable menus. This study aimed to determine whether a realistic and affordable diet that achieves recommended nutrient intakes for pregnant women could be formulated from locally available foods in Malaysia. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the dietary intake of 78 pregnant women using a 24-h dietary recall and a 3-day food record. A market survey was also carried out to estimate the cost of raw foods that are frequently consumed. All linear programming analyses were done using Excel Solver to generate optimal dietary patterns. Our findings showed that the menus designed from diet optimization models using locally available foods would improve dietary adequacy for the seven food groups based on the Malaysian Dietary Guidelines 2010 (MDG 2010) and the 14 nutrients based on Recommended Nutrient Intake 2017 (RNI 2017) in pregnant women. However, inadequacies remained for iron and niacin, indicating that these nutrients may require supplementation.

MS-Diet, a tailored nutrition counselling web-application based on mathematical diet optimization

Background By definition, messages in tailored approaches are built to reach a given person, based on her/his specific characteristics and needs. Tailored dietary behavior change interventions have a small but significant effect on dietary behavior change. The majority of these interventions target a few food groups or nutrients, without evaluating the overall diet. Diet optimization is a powerful mathematical method to translate nutrient recommendations into individual-specific food choices. This method is increasingly used in nutrition research, in the fields of public health and diet sustainability. Objective: The aim was to combine tailored approaches and diet optimization in a web application of tailored nutrition counselling. Method and results The web application, called MS-Diet, was developed based on behavior changes techniques, such as: self-monitoring, self-regulatory, tailored feedback and engaging communication techniques. In a first feature, based on user’s data collected online (including answers to a food frequency questionnaire), the user can obtain a picture of the nutritional quality of her/his diet, the diet cost and the level of physical activity. In a second feature, MS-Diet suggests to the user a list of tailored dietary advices to get a healthier diet (i.e., a nutritionally adequate diet), adapted to her/his specific needs and food preferences. With the application, the user is actor in her/his own dietary changes: she/he specifies her/his food preferences and; chooses dietary suggestions that she/he considers achievable. Conclusions This prototype could be a future online health promotion tool which could help individuals to improve their diet or serve as a decision-support tool for health professionals. The evaluation of the tool (e.g. whether the use of the tool results in changes of dietary habits) is warranted before use on health promotion. Key messages MS-Diet demonstrates how diet optimization can be used to design dietary advice adapted to user’s needs and food preferences. MS-Diet is a promising tool to help individuals improving their diet but requires qualitative and quantitative evaluation for further improvements.