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. 2022 Feb 21;8(1):16.
doi: 10.1186/s40795-022-00497-9.

My nutrition index: a method for measuring optimal daily nutrient intake

Stefanie A Busgang #  1 , Ashley J Malin #  2 , Chris Gennings  3
Affiliations

My nutrition index: a method for measuring optimal daily nutrient intake

Stefanie A Busgang et al. BMC Nutr. .

Abstract

Background: Adequate nutrition is essential for individual and population level health. However, determining adequacy of daily nutrient intake in research studies is often challenging given the unique nutritional needs of individuals. Herein, we examine construct, predictive, criterion, content, and concurrent validity of a dietary analytic tool - My Nutrition Index (MNI) for measuring nutrient intake in relation to personalized daily nutrient intake guidelines. MNI gauges adequacy of an individual's daily nutrient intake based on his or her unique demographic and lifestyle characteristics. MNI accounts for potential adverse effects of inadequate and excess nutrient consumption.

Methods: MNI, calculated based on 34 nutrients, provides an overall index score ranging from 0 to 100, with higher scores reflecting a more nutritious diet. We calculated MNI scores for 7154 participants ages 18-65 in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (2007-2014) by using average nutrient intakes from two 24-h dietary recalls. Survey-weighted binary logistic regression models were used to assess associations between MNI scores and obesity, depression, health perceptions, and past or present cardiovascular disease.

Results: Higher MNI scores were associated with lower prevalence of self-reported cardiovascular disease (OR = 0.69, CI: 0.52, 0.92, p = 0.012), depression (OR = 0.76, CI: 0.65, 0.90, p < 0.001), and obesity (OR = 0.92, CI: 0.87, 0.99, p = 0.016), as well as more favorable health perceptions (OR = 1.24, CI: 1.13, 1.37, p < 0.001).

Conclusions: MNI provides an individualized approach for measuring adequacy/sufficiency of daily nutrient intake that can validly be employed to assess relationships between nutrition and health outcomes in research studies.

Keywords: Micronutrients; Nutritional epidemiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
MNI distributions among participants aged 18-65 from NHANES cycle 2007-2014
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
A comparison of MNI distributions among (a) men and women and (b) smokers and nonsmokers from NHANES 2007-2014
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Pearson correlations of the MNI index with each individual nutrient, adjusted for caloric intake
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
HEI distributions among participants aged 18-64 from NHANES cycle 2007-2014
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Comparison of My Nutrition Index and the Healthy Eating Index from NHANES cycle 2007-2014
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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