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. 2018 Sep 18;18(1):379.
doi: 10.1186/s12884-018-2008-6.

Translation of nutrient recommendations into personalized optimal diets for Chinese urban lactating women by linear programming models

Kai Yu  1 , Yong Xue  1   2 , Wenzhi Zhao  1 , Ai Zhao  3 , Wenjun Li  4 , Yumei Zhang  5 , Peiyu Wang  3
Affiliations

Translation of nutrient recommendations into personalized optimal diets for Chinese urban lactating women by linear programming models

Kai Yu et al. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. .

Abstract

Background: Lactating women need to consume a high-quality diet to replete nutrient stores depleted during pregnancy and to ensure sufficient nutrition for breastfeeding. However, several studies reported suboptimal dietary quality and nutrient intake of lactating mothers in China. The objectives of this study was to apply dietary modeling method to develop individualized optimal diets, which meet the nutrient requirements for lactating women in urban China.

Methods: Data were collected from a sample of 576 lactating women from 0 to 240 days postpartum during the Maternal Infant Nutrition Growth study conducted between 2011 and 2012 in three cities including Beijing, Guangzhou, and Suzhou. Dietary intake data were collected with an interviewer-administered 24-h survey. Linear programming was applied to develop dietary plans that meet recommendations for lactation women in the China Dietary Reference Intakes 2013 and the Chinese Dietary Guideline 2016, while with least deviation from the observed dietary intake.

Results: Through dietary modeling, individual optimal diets were developed for 576 lactating women. The optimal diets met all the food and nutrient intake constraints set in the linear programming models. The large difference between observed and optimized diets suggests that the nutrient needs of lactating mothers in China may only be met after substantial dietary changes. In addition, the analysis showed that it was difficult to meet the recommended intake for six nutrients: vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B6, calcium, selenium, and dietary fiber. Moreover, four clusters in the optimized diets were identified by K-means cluster analysis. The four clusters confirmed that the optimal diets developed by linear programming could characterize the variety in dietary habits by geographical regions and duration of lactation.

Conclusion: Linear programming could help translate nutrient recommendations into personal diet advices for a sample of urban lactating mothers from China. The study showed that dietary modeling is helpful to support healthy eating of lactation women by translating dietary guidelines into personalized meal plans.

Trial registration: The Maternal Infant Nutrition Growth study was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov with identifier NCT01971671 . Registration date October 29, 2013.

Keywords: Lactation mother; Linear programming; Nutrient recommendation; Personalized optimal diets.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was conducted according to the guidelines in the Declaration of Helsinki. All procedures involving human participants were approved by the Medical Ethics Research Board of Peking University (NO.IRB00001052–11042). Written informed consents were obtained from all participants. The registration number of the MING study in ClinicalTrials.gov is NCT01971671.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interest

Co-author WL is employed by Nestlé Nutrition Institute and co-author KY is employed by Nestlé Research Center. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Change of food group intake between the observed and the optimized diets
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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