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

Zeenat Begam Sawal Hamid, Roslee Rajikan, Siti Masitah Elias and Nor Aini Jamil
Additional contact information
Zeenat Begam Sawal Hamid: Dietetic Programme, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 50300, Malaysia
Roslee Rajikan: Dietetic Programme, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 50300, Malaysia
Siti Masitah Elias: Financial Mathematics Programme, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Nilai 71800, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
Nor Aini Jamil: Dietetic Programme, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 50300, Malaysia

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 23, 1-14

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: pregnant women; linear programming; diet optimization model; healthy diet (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/23/4720/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/23/4720/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:23:p:4720-:d:291241

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().