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Culturally Optimised Nutritionally Adequate Food Baskets for Dietary Guidelines for Minimum Wage Estonian Families

Lauk, Janne ; Nurk, Eha ; Robertson, Aileen and Parlesak, Alexandr (2020) In Nutrients 12(9).
Abstract

Although low socioeconomic groups have the highest risk of noncommunicable diseases in Estonia, national dietary guidelines and nutrition recommendations do not consider affordability. This study aims to help develop nutritionally adequate, health-promoting, and culturally acceptable dietary guidelines at an affordable price. Three food baskets (FBs) were optimised using linear programming to meet recommended nutrient intakes (RNIs), or Estonian dietary guidelines, or both. In total, 6255 prices of 422 foods were collected. The Estonian National Dietary Survey (ENDS) provided a proxy for cultural acceptability. Food baskets for a family of four, earning minimum wage, contain between 73 and 96 foods and cost between 10.66 and 10.92 EUR... (More)

Although low socioeconomic groups have the highest risk of noncommunicable diseases in Estonia, national dietary guidelines and nutrition recommendations do not consider affordability. This study aims to help develop nutritionally adequate, health-promoting, and culturally acceptable dietary guidelines at an affordable price. Three food baskets (FBs) were optimised using linear programming to meet recommended nutrient intakes (RNIs), or Estonian dietary guidelines, or both. In total, 6255 prices of 422 foods were collected. The Estonian National Dietary Survey (ENDS) provided a proxy for cultural acceptability. Food baskets for a family of four, earning minimum wage, contain between 73 and 96 foods and cost between 10.66 and 10.92 EUR per day. The nutritionally adequate FB that does not follow Estonian dietary guidelines deviates the least (26% on average) from ENDS but contains twice the sugar, sweets, and savoury snacks recommended. The health-promoting FB (40% deviation) contains a limited amount of sugar, sweets, and savoury snacks. However, values for vitamin D, iodine, iron, and folate are low compared with RNIs, as is calcium for women of reproductive age. When both the RNIs and dietary guidelines are enforced, the average deviation (73%) and cost (10.92 EUR) are highest. The composition of these FBs can help guide the development of dietary guidelines for low income families in Estonia.

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author
; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
affordable diet, cultural acceptability, food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG), linear programming, low socioeconomic status, nutritionally adequate diet
in
Nutrients
volume
12
issue
9
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • pmid:32867197
  • scopus:85090105883
ISSN
2072-6643
DOI
10.3390/nu12092613
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
9f08dc0a-57e8-4c40-a599-9f6ddbbedde9
date added to LUP
2020-09-25 11:52:18
date last changed
2024-04-17 17:04:12
@article{9f08dc0a-57e8-4c40-a599-9f6ddbbedde9,
  abstract     = {{<p>Although low socioeconomic groups have the highest risk of noncommunicable diseases in Estonia, national dietary guidelines and nutrition recommendations do not consider affordability. This study aims to help develop nutritionally adequate, health-promoting, and culturally acceptable dietary guidelines at an affordable price. Three food baskets (FBs) were optimised using linear programming to meet recommended nutrient intakes (RNIs), or Estonian dietary guidelines, or both. In total, 6255 prices of 422 foods were collected. The Estonian National Dietary Survey (ENDS) provided a proxy for cultural acceptability. Food baskets for a family of four, earning minimum wage, contain between 73 and 96 foods and cost between 10.66 and 10.92 EUR per day. The nutritionally adequate FB that does not follow Estonian dietary guidelines deviates the least (26% on average) from ENDS but contains twice the sugar, sweets, and savoury snacks recommended. The health-promoting FB (40% deviation) contains a limited amount of sugar, sweets, and savoury snacks. However, values for vitamin D, iodine, iron, and folate are low compared with RNIs, as is calcium for women of reproductive age. When both the RNIs and dietary guidelines are enforced, the average deviation (73%) and cost (10.92 EUR) are highest. The composition of these FBs can help guide the development of dietary guidelines for low income families in Estonia.</p>}},
  author       = {{Lauk, Janne and Nurk, Eha and Robertson, Aileen and Parlesak, Alexandr}},
  issn         = {{2072-6643}},
  keywords     = {{affordable diet; cultural acceptability; food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG); linear programming; low socioeconomic status; nutritionally adequate diet}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{9}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Nutrients}},
  title        = {{Culturally Optimised Nutritionally Adequate Food Baskets for Dietary Guidelines for Minimum Wage Estonian Families}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12092613}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/nu12092613}},
  volume       = {{12}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}