Contribution to the development of a food guide in Benin: linear programming for the optimization of local diets

Food guides are important tools for nutrition education. While developing a food guide in Benin, the objective was to determine the daily number of servings per food group and the portion sizes of common foods to be recommended. Linear programming (LP) was used to determine, for each predefined food...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Public health nutrition Vol. 18; no. 4; pp. 622 - 631
Main Authors: Levesque, Sarah, Delisle, Hélène, Agueh, Victoire
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.03.2015
Subjects:
adults
Africa, Western
Assessment and methodology
Benin
calcium
chronic diseases
Chronic illnesses
Developing countries
Diet
Diet - ethnology
Diet - statistics & numerical data
Dietary Guidelines
Disease prevention
Eating behavior
eating habits
educational institutions
Energy Intake
Feeding Behavior - ethnology
folic acid
Food
Food and Agriculture Organization
food consumption
Food groups
Fruits
Health care
Industrialized nations
International organizations
iron
LDCs
Linear programming
Malnutrition
Micronutrients
Micronutrients - analysis
Micronutrients - standards
Nutrients
Nutrition
nutrition education
Nutrition Policy
Nutrition Surveys - methods
nutritional adequacy
Optimization
portion size
Prevention
Programming, Linear
Proteins
Recommended Dietary Allowances
Research Papers
Serving Size - standards
society
Vegetables
World Health Organization
zinc
Benin
Linear programming
Food-based dietary guidelines
Food guide
Africa
ISSN:1368-9800, 1475-2727, 1475-2727
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Food guides are important tools for nutrition education. While developing a food guide in Benin, the objective was to determine the daily number of servings per food group and the portion sizes of common foods to be recommended. Linear programming (LP) was used to determine, for each predefined food group, the optimal number and size of servings of commonly consumed foods. Two types of constraints were introduced into the LP models: (i) WHO/FAO Recommended Nutrient Intakes and dietary guidelines for the prevention of chronic diseases; and (ii) dietary patterns based on local food consumption data recently collected in southern Benin in 541 adults. Dietary intakes of the upper tertile of participants for diet quality based on prevention and micronutrient adequacy scores were used in the LP algorithms. Southern area of the Republic of Benin. Local key-players in nutrition (n 30) from the government, academic institutions, international organizations and civil society were partners in the development of the food guide directed at the population. The number of servings per food group and the portion size for eight age-sex groups were determined. For four limiting micronutrients (Fe, Ca, folate and Zn), local diets could be optimized to meet only 70 % of the Recommended Nutrient Intakes, not 100 %. It was possible to determine the daily number of servings and the portion sizes of common foods that can be recommended in Benin with the help of LP to optimize local diets, although Recommended Nutrient Intakes were not fully met for a few critical micronutrients.
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ISSN:1368-9800
1475-2727
1475-2727
DOI:10.1017/S1368980014000706