nutrition security and optimal dietary intake in … seminar series...1 nutrition security and...
Post on 13-Jul-2020
4 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
1
Nutrition Security and Optimal Dietary Intake in Taiwan
Yi-Ting Liu1, Chia-Sheng Hsu2, Ching-Cheng Chang1,2, Shih-Hsun Hsu1
1Department of Agricultural Economics, National Taiwan University, Taiwan. 2Institute of Economics, Academic Sinica, Taiwan.
Abstract
The rapid urbanization and income growth have led to changes in the global food
systems and nutrition transition in many developing countries. The prevalence of
obesity and dietary-related diseases has become an urgent issue in developing national
health policies. Taiwan is a rapidly aging society and its highest prevalence of obesity
is observed in adults above 65 years old. This paper aims to find the optimal age-
specific dietary intake pattern for both sexes based on the data from Nutrition and
Health Surveys in Taiwan (NAHSIT). Goal programming approach is adopted to
minimize the gap between observed diet and the dietary recommendation intakes (DRIs)
from the public health authorities. Food consumption constraints is added to prevent
diet plans from including unreasonable pattern and to minimize impacts on household
food expenditures. Our result suggests that lack of calcium intake is a common problem
for all age groups and both sexes in Taiwan and a shift from meat and oil products to
more fish, nuts and vegetables is required. The age- and gender-specific results also
show how goal programming modeling can be used to translate the DRIs into
economically acceptable food plans.
Keywords: Goal programming, optimization, food intake pattern, Nutrition and Health
Survey in Taiwan (NAHSIT)
2
Nutrition Security and Optimal Dietary Intake in Taiwan
Introduction
In recent years, rapid urbanization and income growth in many developing
countries have led to changes in food systems resulting in a global nutrition transition.
Nutrition transition refers to recent global shifts in dietary patterns towards higher
intakes of saturated fats, sugars and refined foods, and lower intakes of high-fiber foods,
driven by technological advances that have made energy dense, nutrient-poor foods
cheaply available on global food markets (Ghattas, 2014). Popkin and Gordon-Larsen
(2004) indicated that modern societies seem to be converging on a diet high in saturated
fats, sugar, and refined foods but low in fiber, which is called food westernization.
Westernization of Asian diet has changed the food production and consumption in
an irreversible pattern (Pingali, 2006). Taiwan was among the fastest food
westernization countries in Asia. Using household survey data, Peng et al. (2015a),
Misra and Khurana (2008), and Pan et al. (2011) found that Taiwanese consumed more
meat, sweetened beverage, and oil but less vegetable and fruit leading to persistently
rising obesity prevalence rate. In 2016, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA)
announced that Taiwan had the highest obesity and overweight ratio (44% of adults) in
all Asian countries. In addition, the diseases related with obesity such as cardiovascular
diseases and diabetes had become the 2nd and 5th of the ten leading causes of death in
Taiwan.
Furthermore, Taiwan will enter an “aged society” as its proportion of elderly
reached 14 percent in 2018. The statistics of Ministry of the Interior indicate that its
dependency ratio has exceeded 100% in 2017, meaning elder generation is more than
younger one. Chang et al. (2011) found that the physical and mental health significantly
led to inadequate nutrient intakes of the elderly in Taiwan, and they suggested that not
only younger generation but elderly have problems for malnutrition. Therefore, the
paper aims to study the optimal dietary intake pattern for Taiwan taking into account
the compounding effect of age and gender. A mathematical goal programming model
and the Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan (NASHIT) data representing the dietary
habits of adults over 19 years old in Taiwan are adopted in our empirical results.
Linear programming model has been widely used to find optimal diets (Soden &
Fletcher, 1992, Briend et al., 2003, Darmon et al. 2006). Masset et al. (2009) and Okubo
et al. (2015) used goal programming to find the optimal dietary pattern for Americans
and Japanese. Masset et al. (2009) focused on preventing serious cancer problem and
Okubo et al. (2015) focused on the adjustment of dietary culture to prevent chronic
disease for Japanese. We follow the similar approach and divide the NASHIT data into
3
eight sub-groups by age and sex to provide suitable dietary recommendations for each
age and sex group. The optimal results will be used to show how programming models
can be used to develop practical dietary guidelines for men and women across different
age groups by translating the DRIs into economically acceptable food plans.
Material and Methods
Input data
Input data of this study mainly sources from two databases, including the data of
NAHSIT survey in Taiwan 2005-2008 and food and nutrient database (FDA, 2015).
The NAHSIT data is 24 hours dietary recall data obtained through face-to-face
interviews in each survey. In 2005-2008, Taiwan’s government conducted the third
NAHSIT survey targeting children aged 0-6 years (including 1,443 children) and adults
aged over 19 years (included 3,116 adults aged 19-64 years and 1,545 elderly aged 65
years and over), which had 6,104 total participants. The raw data of NASHIT survey
shows all food items ate by one participant during 24 hours. Before data processing, the
total number of food item for all participants are 172,337, and the total number of food
item for above 19 age of participants are 138,025. Considering that children dietary
intake of children is simple and the obesity rate of adult is getting higher year by year,
so this study aims to analyze the dietary intake of people who are above 19 years old.
Finally, the total effective subjects above 19 years old are 2,908 which is constructed
by 1,446 females and 1,462 males. Subsequently, we use food categories (see Appendix
Table 1) to divide data into 12 food groups and 48 subgroups. In order to compare
dietary habit with dietary recommendation intakes (DRIs), we separate data into 8 sub-
groups by 4 age region (9-30 years old, 31-50 years old, 51-70 years old and over 71
age) and sex. Although NAHSIT survey also includes nutrient information, however, it
doesn’t show uniform criteria of each nutrient. Therefore, we employ the uniform
criteria defined by food and nutrient database to cooperate with NAHSIT data, hence
we can transfer food form into nutrient form.
4
Food and Nutrient database provides uniform criteria which shows how much
nutrients are contained for each kind of food per 100 grams (see Appendix Table 2 and
Appendix Table 3). Food and Nutrient database contains 1,333 kinds of food and 23
nutrients but we only choose 11 nutrients in order to in accordance with the nutrients of
FBS (food balance sheet). Therefore, we compare the food name of food and nutrient
database with the food name of NASHIT data, and sort the food name of NASHIT data
by the food name of food and nutrient database, hence we can transfer the food
consumption of NAHSIT data into nutrient form by uniform criteria of Food and
Nutrient database. Finally, we represent the nutrient profile of NAHSIT data (hereafter
nutrient profile) with 6 food groups and 16 subgroups which is the same with the
categories of food and nutrient database. Therefore, we get 8 nutrient profiles for each
sub-group which respectively contains the consumption pattern of energy and 11
nutrients. We simply describe the processing of data with Figure 1.
Figure 1. The diagram of data processing
The process of establishing nutrient profile is mainly constructing of the following
steps. For modeling purposes, we collapsed food into 16 sub-groups based on similarity
of nutrient composition firstly (Gao et al.2006). However, some food items of NASHIT
data usually are not consumed by people, and to avoid those affecting the final result of
data processing, we eliminate the food item which the frequency of occurrences is less
than 1 % of total food item numbers from NASHIT data.
Second, through mapping the representative food item from NAHSIT survey and
Food and Nutrient database in Taiwan, we transfer food item into the form of nutrients.
Therefore, we assign respectively a weight to every nutrient from each representative
food item that corresponded to the percentage consumption of its sub-group, and then
we use a bottom-up method to category into 16 sub-groups (Marcoe et al., 2006).
Finally, nutrient profiles are represented by nutrient content of one serving of food
from each food subgroup. They are calculated separately for each sex and age group
NASHIT
raw data NASHIT
data
8 sub-groups &
2,908 samples
Eliminate 1%
outlier of food
item
Food and Nutrient
database
Nutrient by
age & sex
8 sub-groups
of nutrition
intake
5
and are used as input data for our diet model. Table 1 reports the average dietary intake
per day of each sub-group. According to Taiwan food guides (FDA, 2012), suggesting
that every Taiwanese should eat Fruit 2-4serving, vegetable 3-5 serving, cereal/roots 6-
15 serving, soybean/fish/meat/egg 3-8 serving, dairy 1.5-2 serving, oil/nuts 4-8 serving
per day. However, we can see that Table 1 shows people who are in the range of 19-30
years old in both sex and greater than or equal to 71 years old has a low vegetable intake.
Furthermore, males of both 19-30 and 31-50 age groups are over the
soybean/fish/meat/egg intake suggested by DRIs. On the other hand, Huang et al. (2003)
indicated that the prevalence rate of lactose intolerance is 95% in Asia due to Asian do
not have persistent dairy intakes. Therefore, Table 1 also shows that all sub-groups are
insufficient dietary intake of dairy which is consistent with the characteristic of dietary
intake in Asia.
We simply summarize three points of averaged dietary intake habit for Taiwanese
from Table 1. First, people under 19-30 years old have higher intake of snacks than
traditional principal food of rice and wheat. Snacks include bread, sandwich, hamburger,
and instant noodles, and those food usually are not homemade cuisine. Therefore, we
can infer younger generation of Taiwanese change their sources of staple food due to
the lifestyle of eating out. Second, Taiwanese generally have more intakes of beef and
pork than other kinds of meat and use them to be the main protein source in
soybean/fish/meat/egg category. However, people eat more fish and less beef and pork
as the age increases, meaning both the main protein source and dietary preferences will
change with aging. Nut intake also gets higher with aging, and reaches the peak at the
age of 51-70 on both female and male sexes. Third, Taiwanese have more vegetable oil
intakes than animal oil intakes no matter in which sub-groups.
On the view of nutrition intake, Table 2 shows that people are normal intakes of
vitamin C, vitamin A, Iron, and Phosphorus nutrient on the whole. However, some
nutrients are under or over DRIs. First, energy intake of people under 70 years old are
over DRIs, but above 70 years old cannot achieve DRIs. Furthermore, for macronutrient,
people in each age are both high intakes of protein and fat, and people above 70 years
old doesn’t reach the carbohydrate intake of DRIs. For micronutrients, Table 2 indicates
all people are insufficient intake of calcium compared with DRIs, and also insufficient
intake both of niacin and vitamin B1 for the 71+ age group.
Therefore, we provide some points for the result of talbe2. First, both of younger
and middle age group need more energy intakes to meet energy demand for growing up
and physical labor. On the other hand, with age increasing, elderly reduce their energy
intake due to the declining of basal metabolic rate and the decreasing of activity. Second,
we can notice that the 71+ age group has the problem of insufficient nutrition intake,
implying malnutrition problems of elderly has to be improved in Taiwan. Third, there
6
is a serious problem for lacking calcium intake in Asia countries, especially for Taiwan
and Japan. Chen et al. (2016) told that the main food such as milk, bread, cheese,
sardines are the main calcium source in western countries, however, the main food such
as rice are few nutrient of calcium in the eastern countries. Therefore, Taiwanese cannot
intake enough calcium from the main food and has to replenish it with other sources,
such as dairy and dark vegetable. However, Taiwanese has a low intake of calcium due
to the low dietary of dairy products and vegetable even though they are the other sources
of calcium nutrient. Additionally, the nutrition intake of Table 2 also infers that dietary
intake of fruit and dairy is insufficient, on the contrast, dietary intake of bread, instant
noodle, sandwich and hamburger are gradually rising (Wu et al. 2011).
Further, we respectively compare dietary habit of Taiwan to the similar studies of
Japan and USA and report it in Table 3. Moving from Taiwan to Japan, we can see that
the energy intakes of Japanese are higher than Taiwanese. For the comparison with
macronutrients, Taiwan’ males have higher of protein and fat than Japan’s males,
however, Taiwan’s females are lower intakes of protein and fat than Japan’s females in
the 51-70 age group. Although grain is main food both in Taiwan and Japan, however,
we can see Japanese are more intakes of Carbohydrate and lower intakes of Iron,
vitamin A, and vitamin C intake than Taiwanese. Japanese have a high intake of refined
grain, fish, seaweed, soybean product, salt and low intake of fat. Taiwanese have a high
intake of meat and low intake of dairy and fruit (Wu et al., 2011; Okubo et al., 2015),
which is meaning different dietary intake result in different nutrition intake in the two
countries even they have similar main food.
Additionally, we also contrast dietary intake of Taiwan with the USA to understand
the difference between Taiwan and Western countries. Comparison with the energy
intake of two countries, people in the USA have the higher intake of energy than Taiwan.
Moreover, USA's macronutrient intake such as protein, fat, and carbohydrate are also
higher than Taiwanese. For the intake of vitamin, there is lower intake both of vitamin
A and vitamin B in the USA than in Taiwan.
In sum, we can understand the dietary habit in Taiwan from above narrated,
Taiwanese are similar diet habit with Japanese, however, the less intake of both energy
and carbohydrate are in Taiwan. Moreover, Taiwanese have more sufficient intake of
minerals and vitamins than in Japan and the USA, excepting calcium. People still face
the problem of malnutrition even the income level of Taiwan has reached the standard
of developed countries. Therefore, we will design an optimal dietary intake model of
Taiwan to find out the useful policy implications for optimal dietary intake, and make
contributions for improving malnutrition of Taiwanese.
7
Table 1 Average dietary intake per day per capita by age and sex
Male Female
M19-30 M31-50 M51-70 M71+ F19-30 F31-50 F51-70 F71+
Cereal 14.17 14.25 12.43 10.85 11.78 9.73 9.64 8.77
Rice, Wheat 6.77 8.28 8.73 8.39 5.55 4.84 6.87 6.97
Sugar 0.25 0.30 0.27 0.25 0.36 0.19 0.20 0.17
Snack, Other 7.15 5.67 3.43 2.21 5.87 4.7 2.57 1.63
Soy/fish/meat/egg 9.21 8.91 7.81 5.00 6.88 6.21 4.86 3.87
Poultries 1.59 1.00 0.74 0.40 1.05 0.7 0.28 0.29
Livestock 3.35 3.31 2.54 1.65 2.62 1.95 1.39 1.11
Fish 1.79 2.00 2.37 1.65 1.14 1.79 1.57 1.36
Egg 0.79 0.75 0.55 0.35 0.51 0.49 0.36 0.24
Soybean 0.99 1.52 1.25 0.70 0.93 1.08 1.06 0.73
Other 0.70 0.33 0.36 0.25 0.63 0.2 0.2 0.14
Oil 6.69 6.64 5.59 4.49 5.25 5.24 4.33 3.33
Plant oil 3.53 3.86 3.19 2.67 2.52 2.81 2.55 1.95
Animal oil 0.11 0.09 0.13 0.15 0.05 0.13 0.29 0.16
Nut 0.17 0.26 0.54 0.36 0.14 0.27 0.34 0.21
Other 2.88 2.43 1.73 1.31 2.54 2.03 1.15 1.01
Fruit 0.93 1.62 1.72 1.74 1.11 1.78 1.92 1.13
Dairy 0.22 0.31 0.51 0.74 0.31 0.32 0.60 0.59
Vegetable 2.31 3.17 3.81 3.52 2.12 3.19 3.68 2.89
8
Table 2 Nutrition intake by age and sex
Energy Protein Fat Carbohydrate Calcium Phosphorus Iron VitB1 VitB2 Niacin VitC VitA
Kcal/day g/day g/day g/day mg/day mg/day mg/day mg/day mg/day mgNE/day mg/day μgRAE/day
M19-30 2348.00 94.73 86.74 277.25 538.38 1269.54 18.21 1.41 1.65 23.75 164.00 943.93
DRI 2150 60 48-71 269-389 1000 800 10 1.2 1.3 16 100 600
M31-50 2451.28 99.06 88.39 287.43 615.95 1334.74 18.28 1.41 1.52 24.59 183.22 1099.48
DRI 2100 60 47-70 262-315 1000 800 10 1.2 1.3 16 100 600
M51-70 2107.06 90.92 71.38 258.86 679.15 1258.46 17.20 1.36 1.49 22.58 204.40 1210.18
DRI 1950 55 43-65 243-292 1000 800 10 1.2 1.3 16 100 600
M71 1679.28 69.75 54.39 227.88 703.91 1048.59 13.38 1.12 1.47 16.92 170.71 1259.58
DRI 1900 60 42-63 237-285 1000 800 10 1.2 1.3 16 100 600
F19-30 1867.67 76.06 70.83 234.65 489.63 1035.48 14.84 1.10 1.23 18.72 135.97 669.19
DRI 1650 50 37-55 206-247 1000 800 15 0.9 1 14 100 500
F31-50 1707.99 72.72 61.49 216.74 558.52 1048.53 15.57 1.10 1.24 19.97 178.63 1050.49
DRI 1650 50 37-55 206-247 1000 800 15 0.9 1 14 100 500
F51-70 1568.73 66.62 50.64 216.31 651.73 1033.67 14.18 1.10 1.31 16.67 193.01 1178.00
DRI 1600 50 36-53 200-240 1000 800 10 0.9 1 14 100 500
F71 1296.60 54.65 40.13 182.62 569.62 828.05 10.67 0.87 1.14 12.78 127.10 1064.59
DRI 1500 50 33-50 187-225 1000 800 10 0.9 1 14 100 500
Source: This study.
9
Table 3 Comparison nutrient intake with Japan and USA
Country Taiwan Japan USA Taiwan Japan USA Taiwan USA Taiwan Japan USA Taiwan Japan USA Taiwan USA
Sex Male Female
Age 31-50 30-49 30-49 51-70 50-69 50-69 71+ 70+ 31-50 30-49 30-49 51-70 50-69 50-69 71+ 70+
Energy (kcal) 2451.28 2391.00 2571.00 2107.06 2457.00 2373.00 1679.28 2022.00 1707.99 1856.00 1929.50 1568.73 1898.00 1745.50 1296.60 1604.00
Protein (g) 99.06 81.30 101.95 90.92 89.50 91.80 69.75 80.80 72.72 66.80 74.40 66.62 74.90 68.65 54.65 60.00
Fat (g) 88.39 62.43 96.00 71.38 65.52 92.85 54.39 80.90 61.49 59.80 75.10 50.64 55.00 69.85 40.13 62.90
Carbohydrate
(g) 287.43 316.80 302.00 258.86 334.15 272.00 227.88 237.00 216.74 249.63 233.50 216.31 269.04 205.50 182.62 201.00
Calcium (mg) 615.95 544.00 1093.00 679.15 641.00 1005.00 703.91 940.00 558.52 526.00 888.50 651.73 656.00 821.00 569.62 809.00
Phosphorus
(mg) 1334.74 1197.00 1678.00 1258.46 1350.00 1519.50 1048.59 1576.00 1048.53 1015.00 1251.50 1033.67 1173.00 1165.50 828.05 1069.00
Iron (mg) 18.28 8.30 16.35 17.20 10.30 16.30 13.38 16.50 15.57 7.40 12.75 14.18 9.50 12.55 10.67 12.40
VitB1 (mg) 1.41 1.10 - 1.36 1.10 - 1.12 - 1.10 0.87 - 1.10 0.96 - 0.87 -
VitB2 (mg) 1.52 1.40 - 1.49 1.60 - 1.47 - 1.24 1.20 - 1.31 1.50 - 1.14 -
Niacin (mgNE) 24.59 20.90 34.00 22.58 23.10 29.00 16.92 25.40 19.97 15.90 22.40 16.67 18.00 21.00 12.78 18.40
VitC (mg) 183.22 92.00 78.75 204.40 138.00 80.85 170.71 97.50 178.63 90.00 74.55 193.01 150.00 72.65 127.10 87.40
VitA (μgRAE) 1099.48 628.00 666.50 1210.18 786.00 666.00 1259.58 759.00 1050.49 584.00 570.00 1178.00 682.00 602.00 1064.59 654.00
Source: NAHSIT (2005-5008); Okubo et al. (2015); USDA (2014).
10
Goal programming model
In 1957, Charnes and Cooper were first to mention goal programming and this tool
first applied in management (Feng et al. 1989). Anderson and Earle (1983) indicated
that goal programming is presented as a method of achieving nutritional balance in
selected diets. In recent years, many experts used goal programming to design optimal
dietary intake (Ferguson et al., 2006; Masset et al., 2009; Okubo et al., 2015). According
to previous studies (Ferguson et al., 2006; Okubo et al., 2015; Masset et al., 2009), the
objective function minimizes the deviation in food intake between the observed and
optimized food intake patterns met the nutritional recommendations with a little change
as possible from the reported food intake.
In this study, we follow the approach suggested by Ferguson et al. (2006), Masset
et al. (2009) and Okubo et al. (2015) and define the objective function as follows:
Minimize Y = ∑|(𝑋𝑗𝑜𝑝𝑡
− 𝑋𝑗𝑜𝑏𝑠)/𝑋𝑗
𝑜𝑏𝑠|
16
𝑗=1
, (1)
where Y denotes the objective function to minimize, 𝑋𝑗𝑜𝑝𝑡
denotes the serving of food
subgroup j in optimized food subgroup intake pattern, and 𝑋𝑗𝑜𝑏𝑠 denotes the mean
serving of food subgroup in the observed food intake pattern across the whole
population. Therefore, we try to minimize the summation of all deviation from dietary
intake to optimal intake, Y, hence we define new decision variable to be non-negative
and representing positive and negative deviation from the observed food per serving,
and the definitions are as the following:
If 𝑋𝑗𝑜𝑝𝑡
< 𝑋𝑗𝑜𝑏𝑠, then 𝑑𝑗
− = (𝑋𝑗𝑜𝑏𝑠 − 𝑋𝑗
𝑜𝑝𝑡)/𝑋𝑗
𝑜𝑏𝑠 and 𝑑𝑗+=0, (2)
If 𝑋𝑗𝑜𝑝𝑡
> 𝑋𝑗𝑜𝑏𝑠, then 𝑑𝑗
− = 0 and 𝑑𝑗+=(𝑋𝑗
𝑜𝑝𝑡− 𝑋𝑗
𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑡)/𝑋𝑗𝑜𝑏𝑠, (3)
If 𝑋𝑗𝑜𝑝𝑡
= 𝑋𝑗𝑜𝑏𝑠, then 𝑑𝑗
− = 0 and 𝑑𝑗+=0, (4)
Subject to: 𝑑𝑗+ − 𝑑𝑗
− = (𝑋𝑗𝑜𝑝𝑡
− 𝑋𝑗𝑜𝑏𝑠)/𝑋𝑗
𝑜𝑏𝑠 (5)
Equation (2), (3), and (4) are summarized in equation (5). Because the decision variable
is redefined, therefore the new linear function Y’ is expressed as the summation of the
deviational variables and the objective function is rewritten as the following.
Minimize 𝑌′ = ∑ 𝑑𝑗+ + 𝑑𝑗
−
16
1
(6)
11
Constraints
We can make the nexus between food intake and nutrition intake through different
nutrient constraints, hence our optimal dietary model not only can minimize the gap
between observed and optimized food intake pattern but also provide the desirable
intake level of energy and nutrients.
Table 4 shows constraints of each food intake. We set both upper and lower limit
of food intake to ensure that the solution of programming model will not excess the
normal quantity of food consumption. These bounds of limit are derived from the actual
distribution for dietary intake of NAHSIT data by each sub-groups. We have to calculate
how many serving of food are consumed by everyone under each sub-group. Then we
can know the real distribution for food consumption in different sub-groups, thus
respectively take the 95th quantile and 5th quantile of six food types to be the upper
and lower limit for six food type in different sub-groups.
We apply nutritional constraints suggested by HPA (2016) to ensure the optimal
solution of our model for each food would be equal to or greater than the desired value
which was based on DRIs for Taiwan adults. Energy constraints are defined by different
level (lower, low, moderate, and high) of physical activity in accordance with FDA
(2012). We believe that most of Taiwanese are at low level of physical activity, hence
we define the energy constraints of our model with a low level of physical activity.
According to the DRIs of Taiwan, if a person engages in low level of physical activity,
whose energy constraint will be set at 2150 kcal/day for men of 19-30 year olds; 1650
kcal/day for women of 19-30 year olds; 2100 kcal/day for men of 31-50 year olds; 1650
kcal/day for women of 31-50 year olds; 1950 kcal/day for men of 51-70 year olds; 1600
kcal/day for women of 51-70 year olds; 1900 kcal/day for men 71+ year olds and 1500
kcal/day for women of 71+ year olds.
For the constraints of nutrients (protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin A,
vitamin B1, vitamin B2, niacin and vitamin C), we follow the Recommended Dietary
Allowance (RDA) or Adequate Intake (AI) to define the lower limit of constraint for
each nutrient. However, we also define the upper limit of constraint for some nutrients
(protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin A, niacin and vitamin C) followed the
Upper Intake Level (UL) to avoid some health problems caused by intake over of
nutrient. Therefore, we report all constraints of nutrient intake in Table 5.
12
Table 4 Food constraints by both sex and each age group Unit: Serving
Age 19-30 31-50 51-70 71+
Food group Subgroup Male (Lower/Upper)
Female (Lower/Upper)
Male (Lower/Upper)
Female (Lower/Upper)
Male (Lower/Upper)
Female (Lower/Upper)
Male (Lower/Upper)
Female (Lower/Upper)
Cereal 3.54/22.68 2.56/20.65 3.48/22.07 2.21/15.60 3.43/20.91 2.17/15.41 3.69/19.99 2.56/14.95 Rice 0.00/15.24 0.00/10.97 0.00/15.76 0.00/10.90 0.00/16.46 0.00/13.38 0.00/16.74 0.00/14.06 Sugar 0.00/0.86 0.00/1.17 0.00/1.17 0.00/0.60 0.00/1.11 0.00/0.78 0.00/0.95 0.00/0.42 Other 0.00/15.09 0.00/14.06 0.00/11.91 0.00/9.30 0.00/8.95 0.00/5.97 0.00/5.92 0.00/4.53
Oil 0.00/14.29 0.00/11.18 0.00/13.94 0.00/10.20 0.01/12.36 0.00/11.03 0.00/10.58 0.00/8.20 Plant oil 0.00/11.72 0.00/8.83 0.00/13.14 0.00/8.80 0.00/10.87 0.00/8.33 0.00/9.03 0.00/6.30 Animal oil 0.00/0.39 0.00/0.27 0.00/0.55 0.00/0.70 0.00/0.65 0.00/0.99 0.00/0.89 0.00/0.83 Nut 0.00/0.01 0.00/0.48 0.00/1.33 0.00/1.60 0.00/2.17 0.00/1.98 0.00/1.72 0.00/1.09 Other 0.00/8.67 0.00/7.72 0.00/6.57 0.00/4.90 0.00/5.12 0.00/2.26 0.00/3.98 0.00/3.45
Soy/Fish/Meat/Egg 1.34/18.28 0.49/13.40 1.43/16.57 0.46/13.20 0.47/14.82 0.00/11.06 0.29/11.40 0.00/9.41 Poultries 0.00/6.16 0.00/4.51 0.00/3.95 0.00/2.80 0.00/2.86 0.00/1.97 0.00/2.56 0.00/1.59 Livestock 0.00/10.34 0.00/6.49 0.00/9.56 0.00/5.90 0.00/7.22 0.00/4.67 0.00/5.40 0.00/5.17 Fish 0.00/4.87 0.00/3.70 0.00/6.31 0.00/5.90 0.00/7.30 0.00/5.65 0.00/6.35 0.00/4.03 Egg 0.00/2.70 0.00/1.69 0.00/2.31 0.00/2.00 0.00/1.99 0.00/1.23 0.00/1.33 0.00/1.15 Soybean 0.00/4.53 0.00/3.29 0.00/5.36 0.00/4.40 0.00/4.89 0.00/4.47 0.00/3.33 0.00/2.53 Other 0.00/1.79 0.00/1.45 0.00/1.36 0.00/0.90 0.00/1.20 0.00/0.67 0.00/0.91 0.00/0.57
Dairy Dairy 0.00/0.84 0.00/1.05 0.00/1.60 0.00/1.40 0.00/2.70 0.00/2.40 0.00/2.88 0.00/2.58
Vegetable Vegetable 0.02/6.56 0.02/5.66 0.21/8.33 0.18/8.30 0.29/10.64 0.35/9.35 0.09/8.44 0.07/7.99
Fruit Fruit 0.00/3.48 0.00/4.54 0.00/5.49 0.00/5.30 0.00/6.02 0.00/5.57 0.00/6.30 0.00/3.96
Source: FDA (2012).
13
Table 5 Nutrient constraints by both sex and each age group
Nutrient Unit/day Male Female
19-30
(Lower/Upper)
31-50
(Lower/Upper)
51-70
(Lower/Upper)
71+
(Lower/Upper)
19-30
(Lower/Upper)
31-50
(Lower/Upper)
51-70
(Lower/Upper)
71+
(Lower/Upper)
Energy kcal 2150 2100 1950 1900 1650 1650 1600 1500
Protein g 60 60 55 60 50 50 50 50
Fat % of energy 20-30% 20-30% 20-30% 20-30% 20-30% 20-30% 20-30% 20-30%
Carbohydrate % of energy 50-60% 50-60% 50-60% 50-60% 50-60% 50-60% 50-60% 50-60%
Calcium mg 1000/2500 1000/2500 1000/2500 1000/2500 1000/2500 1000/2500 1000/2500 1000/2500
Ph mg 800/4000 800/4000 800/4000 800/4000 800/4000 800/4000 800/4000 800/4000
Iron mg 10/40 10/40 10/40 10/40 15/40 15/40 10/40 10/40
Vitamin A μgRAE 600/3000 600/3000 600/3000 600/3000 500/3000 500/3000 500/3000 500/3000
VitB1 mg 1.2/- 1.2/- 1.2/- 1.2/- 0.9/- 0.9/- 0.9/- 0.9/-
VitB2 mg 1.3/- 1.3/- 1.3/- 1.3/- 1/- 1/- 1/- 1/-
Niacin mgNE 16/35 16/35 16/35 16/35 14/35 14/35 14/35 14/35
Vitamin C mg 100/2000 100/2000 100/2000 100/2000 100/2000 100/2000 100/2000 100/2000
Notes: “-” denotes no upper bound of nutrient intake is defined.
Source: HPA (2016).
14
Empirical Results
Optimal dietary intake
Table 6 shows the result of optimized nutrient intake for each sub-group satisfied
with all nutritional constraints. As mentioned before, we know that some sub-groups
don’t achieve nutrition goal in observed food intake pattern, including 3 nutrients for
male sub-group of 19-30 year olds; 5 nutrients for female sub-group of 19-30 year olds;
4 nutrients for male sub-group of 31-50 year olds; 5 nutrients for female sub-group of
31-50 year olds; 4 nutrients for male sub-group of 51-70 year olds; 3 nutrients for
female sub-group of 51-70 year olds; 4 nutrients for male sub-group of aged 71 and
over; 3 nutrients for female sub-group aged 71 and over. Therefore, we can see that
calcium is the most difficult to achieve the nutrient goal for each sex and age group,
and high fat intake and low carbohydrate intake from the past intake pattern. Through
the linear programming, we can derive an optimized food intake pattern satisfied all
nutrient constraints of DRIs from the optimal dietary intake model. Therefore, we can
respectively suggest an adjustment of food intake to meet the DRIs’ requirement of
macronutrient and micronutrient of DRIs for each sex and age group.
Figure 2 graphs the observed food intake pattern and optimized dietary intake. We
can see that the observed intake of cereal are higher than the optimized intake of cereal
for the most of sub-groups, meaning most of Taiwanese should have less intake of rice
or other cereal to reach the optimized intake of cereal, excepting the male group of 51-
70 year olds, and the female group both of 19-30 year olds and 71+ year olds.
Additionally, we suggest that Taiwanese not only should decrease intake of oil but
increase intake of vegetable to meet the optimized intake for a healthy dietary intake.
For the intake of Soy/fish/meat/egg, the different difference between observed and
optimized intake are found out from the different sub-groups. The result indicates that
male group of 19-30 year olds and 31-50 year olds should decrease the intake of
Soy/fish/meat/egg. For female, both 31-50 year olds and 71+ year olds should increase
the intake of Soy/fish/meat/egg. We should use the increasing of soybean and fish
consumption to make up for the decreasing of poultry and livestock consumption and
to reach a better dietary of health. Moreover, we also can see that Taiwanese should
increase dairy intake especially for the group of 51 and over year olds. The details of
optimized dietary intake are reported in Appendix Table 4.
According to Nutrition Information (2017), cereal and oil/nut are the main source
of energy for Taiwanese. Nuts are rich in nutrients such as vitamin B group, vitamin E,
mineral, fiber and unsaturated fat. These nutrients are helpful to prevent cardiovascular
diseases and metabolic diseases. However, oil is rich in fat which could cause
cardiovascular diseases, especially saturated fat. Therefore, we should eat more nuts
and less oil intake for a healthy fat intake. Dairy is not only rich in calcium but also
helpful to digest and absorb protein, carbohydrate, fat, a variety of vitamins (especially
15
vitamin B2), minerals, but it lacks vitamin C and iron. However, the prevalence rate of
lactose intolerance is 95% in Asia because we don’t have persistent dairy intake (Huang
et al. 2003). Therefore, vegetable is another choice to be the source of calcium, and is
rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytochemicals. Especially, the dark vegetable has
high amounts of calcium nutrient and can be supplement with calcium nutrients for us.
Fruit is also rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, mineral and fiber, therefore we can have more
fruits to meet the demand of those nutrients in daily life. Finally, soy/fish/meat/egg are
the source of protein, soybean is the source of vegetable protein, and fish/meat/egg are
the source of animal protein. Furthermore, the average fat content of fish is lower than
meat and the proportion of fatty acids is healthier. Food of meat contains a considerable
number of saturated fatty acids or processed seasoning made of frozen food, both would
be adverse health of cardiovascular disease, that is, choosing lean and fresh meat should
be more appropriate. In addition, egg has the best quality of protein among all foods.
In summary, our optimized food intake pattern is reasonable, and we believe it will
make contributions for suggestions of healthier dietary intake. We find out that
Taiwanese should increase intake of carbohydrate nutrient mainly sourced from rice.
Also, the optimized intake of Soy/fish/meat/egg indicates that we should take the
healthier protein from fish and soybean to replace meat. Furthermore, dairy is the best
source of calcium, and elderly are easy to get osteoporosis caused by lacking calcium
(Lin et al. 2013). Therefore, the optimized dairy intake pattern also suggests that elderly
in Taiwan should increase dairy intake, and it would be the benefit of improving
osteoporosis. On the other hand, increasing of the optimized vegetable intake will
replenish the lacking calcium of Asian caused by lactose intolerance.
16
Table 6 Optimized nutrient intake patterns
Age 19-30 31-50 51-70 71+
unit/day Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Energy kcal 2150.00 1650.00 2100.00 1650.00 1950.00 1600.00 1900.00 1500.00
Protein g 94.13 73.49 85.25 90.85 91.41 72.61 78.15 70.69
Fat g 71.00 55.00 70.00 55.00 65.00 53.00 64.00 50.00
Carbohydrate g 289.52 221.61 288.78 207.00 255.54 212.41 259.18 199.37
Calcium mg 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00
Phosphorus mg 1434.88 1431.38 1549.06 1461.81 1549.33 1249.04 1371.77 1280.79
Iron mg 23.77 20.27 18.98 25.51 19.13 15.23 20.94 22.97
Vitamin A μgRAE 1648.54 1008.95 1285.98 1441.80 1211.76 1120.84 1657.05 3000.00
Vitamin B1 mg 1.20 0.90 1.21 1.20 1.20 1.25 1.67 1.64
Vitamin B2 mg 2.14 1.85 2.55 2.06 2.09 2.31 3.32 3.42
Niacin mgNE 20.37 14.00 19.39 21.44 19.55 14.00 16.00 14.00
Vitamin C mg 169.77 116.02 158.49 136.85 151.44 137.76 183.87 187.74
Source: This study.
17
Table 7 Optimized food intake pattern
Age 19-30 31-50 51-70 71+
Food group Sub-group Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Cereal 12.69 10.37 12.87 6.48 10.31 6.97 10.29 7.90 Rice 6.93 5.11 8.40 4.33 7.74 5.95 8.60 6.63 Sugar 0.25 0.36 0.28 0.19 0.27 0.20 0.25 0.15 Other 5.51 4.90 4.19 1.96 2.30 0.81 1.44 1.12
Oil 2.24 0.15 1.65 1.53 3.37 2.54 3.40 2.65 Plant oil 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.80 1.46 2.28 1.67 Animal oil 0.11 0.04 0.09 0.13 0.12 0.29 0.14 0.16 Nut 0.19 0.11 0.21 0.21 0.41 0.30 0.26 0.15 other 1.94 0.00 1.35 1.19 1.04 0.49 0.72 0.67
Soy/Fish/Meat/Egg 7.94 7.48 5.66 4.84 7.41 7.11 4.29 4.77 Poultries 0.51 0.34 0.88 0.57 0.66 0.25 0.39 0.28 Livestock 1.40 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 1.25 1.59 1.04 Fish 1.51 1.36 1.58 1.52 4.46 1.33 1.56 1.50 Egg 0.77 0.50 0.74 0.47 0.53 0.34 0.34 0.23 Soybean 2.94 3.29 1.40 3.69 1.18 0.97 0.68 0.69 Other 0.35 0.17 0.24 0.16 0.28 0.15 0.21 0.12
Dairy Dairy 0.10 0.20 0.23 0.25 0.41 1.71 0.93 0.63
Vegetable Vegetable 6.57 5.66 5.10 8.26 4.22 3.50 5.95 7.06
Fruit Fruit 0.73 0.98 1.45 1.64 1.61 1.77 1.69 1.03
Source: This study.
18
Figure 2 Food Intake Pattern between Observed and Optimized
Source: This study.
19
FBS and optimized dietary intake
Subsequently, we compare 2015 FBS with average optimal food intake pattern.
From Table 7, we can see that our food system provides too much cereal, oil/nut,
soy/fish/meat/egg, dairy and fruit but provide less vegetable due to the average of
individual economic behavior. The minus deviation also means food loss and waste
from the viewpoint of health dietary intake, if Taiwanese changes dietary intake in
accordance with the optimal dietary intake and doesn’t adjust food supply system.
Table 7 Comparison of optimized food demand and real food supply
Food group Optimized 2015 FBS Deviation
Cereal 9.74 13.69 -3.96
Oil/nut 2.19 14.06 -11.87
Soy/Fish/Meat/Egg 5.68 7.85 -2.17
Dairy 0.56 0.64 -0.08
Vegetable 5.79 2.91 2.88
Fruit 1.36 2.01 -0.65
Source: This study; COA (2015)
From the macro sight, we represent the data of 2015 FBS with six food groups and
four nutrients, and also the same for optimized food intake. Therefore, Table 8 shows
the structure of each macronutrient for six food groups. We can see that cereal is the
main source of energy from 2015 FBS, but soy/fish/meat/egg from optimized food
intake. Additionally, the main source of protein is soy/fish/meat/egg no matter from the
sight of FBS or optimal dietary intake. On the other hand, the main source of fat from
the sight of FBS is oil/nut, but soy/fish/meat/egg from the sight of optimized food intake.
That is due to the optimized food intake pattern suggests Taiwanese should eat less
meat and oil/nut but fish. However, the main source of carbohydrate is still cereal no
matter from the sight of FBS or optimal dietary intake.
Table 8 Contribution of each macronutrient for six food category
2015 FBS optimized food intake
energy protein fat carbohydrate energy Protein Fat carbohydrate
Cereal 37% 23% 2% 75% 28% 12% 14% 48%
oil/nut 26% 5% 58% 2% 9% 5% 14% 7%
soy/fish/meat/egg 26% 60% 35% 4% 53% 70% 64% 36%
vegetable 3% 4% 1% 5% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Dairy 3% 6% 3% 3% 8% 13% 8% 6%
Fruit 5% 2% 1% 11% 1% 0% 0% 2%
Source: This study.
In summary, we provide some policy implications for food system both on demand
and supply side. Firstly, from the side of food supply, we find out that Taiwan’s food
20
system provide too much food of less nutrient-density, such as oil and red meat.
Although these are necessary for daily life, we still can eat less of these and use healthier
food such as fish and vegetable to replace them. Therefore, Taiwan government should
introduce some rules of health food supply to provide more health food for Taiwanese.
Secondly, from the side of food demand, empirical results found that people eat
more red meat and oil caused them absorb too much fat. Also, calcium insufficient
because Taiwan population drink less dairy. Therefore, government should promote eat
less fat density food in order to prevent rise obesity prevalence rate. It is a linchpin that
Taiwan's government needs to encourage people to eat more vegetables which are good
calcium sources for their sufficient calcium intakes.
Conclusion
In recent years, rapid social and economic change result in dietary habit change. This
situation may cause malnutrition to Taiwan population and make obesity prevalence
rate higher than before. As time change, people eat less dairy and vegetable but eat
more oil/nut and meat. According to these investigation, to make people eat healthier,
we design an optimal dietary intake model.
From many years ago, linear programming is a tool which people always estimate
dietary intake but goal programming can narrow the scope of feasible solution to make
optimal dietary intake pattern more precisely. Therefore, we put NASHIT survey 2005-
2008 data into our diet model. The results show that our optimized food intake pattern
is reasonable. People become eat healthier food such as intake more fish, soybean,
vegetable and dairy and eat less oil and red meat. Also, all nutrients achieve their goal
by adjustment of dietary intake pattern.
According to these results, we provide two policy recommendations. First,
government should product or import healthier food for Taiwan people and promote
Taiwan people eat less fat density food to prevent obesity rate rise. Secondly, because
of lactose intolerance, government should encourage people to eat more vegetable
because vegetable is also a good calcium source for people.
Research Limitation
Our data only obtain form 2005-2008 because the newest data do not issue and other
NAHSIT survey data are about children; therefore, we use data in 2005-2008. If the
newest data issue, we can use the same model and calculate again. The stability of food
intake pattern and change in dietary habits during then time gap between data collect
and analysis might have slightly influenced the conclusion.
21
Reference
Anderson, A. M., Earle, M. D., 1983. Diet planning in the third world by linear
and goal programming. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 9-16.
Briend, A., Darmon, N., Ferguson, E., Erhardt, J. G., 2003. Linear programming:
a mathematical tool for analyzing and optimizing children's diets during the
complementary feeding period. Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and
nutrition 36(1), 12-22.
Chang, H. H., Nayga, R. M., Chan, K. C., 2011. Gendered analysis of nutrient
deficiencies among the elderly. Journal of Family and Economic Issues 32(2),
268-279.
COA, 2015. Food balance sheet 2015. Council of Agriculture, Taiwan. Retrieved from
http://agrstat.coa.gov.tw/sdweb/public/book/Book.aspx
Darmon, N., Ferguson, E. L., Briend, A., 2006. Impact of a cost constraint on
nutritionally adequate food choices for French women: an analysis by linear
programming. Journal of nutrition education and behavior 38(2), 82-90.
FDA, 2012. Taiwan Food Guides. Food and Drug Administration, Ministry of
Health and Welfare, Taiwan. Available at
https://health99.hpa.gov.tw/media/public/pdf/21733.pdf (in Chinese).
FDA, 2015. Food and Nutrient database. Food and Drug Administration, Ministry
of Health and Welfare, Taiwan. Available at
http://www.fda.gov.tw/TC/siteList.aspx?sid=284 (in Chinese).
Feng, C.M., Ngai, C., Hung, C.H., 1989. A multiobjective programming model for
transportation and resources use. Journal of Management, 27-40.
Ferguson, E. L., Darmon, N., Fahmida, U., Fitriyanti, S., Harper, T. B.,
Premachandra, I. M., 2006. Design of optimal food-based complementary
feeding recommendations and identification of key “problem nutrients” using
goal programming. The Journal of nutrition 136(9), 2399-2404.
Gao, X., Wilde, P. E., Lichtenstein, A. H., Tucker, K. L., 2006. The 2005 USDA
Food Guide Pyramid is associated with more adequate nutrient intakes within
energy constraints than the 1992 Pyramid. The Journal of nutrition 136(5),
1341-1346.
Ghattas, H., 2014. Food Security and Nutrition in the context of the Global
Nutrition Transition. Technical paper. Rome: FAO.
HPA, 2016. Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs). Health Promotion Administration,
Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan. Available at
http://www.hpa.gov.tw/Pages/Detail.aspx?nodeid=544&pid=725 (in
Chinese).
22
HPA, 2017. How serious of obesity rate in Taiwan? Health Promotion
Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan. Available at
http://obesity.hpa.gov.tw/TC/faqContent.aspx?id=67&chk=84b32626-2bca-
430c-982b-784a9b53fe69¶m=pn%3D3 (in Chinese).
Huang, J.T., Ye, C.H., 2003. Lactose intolerance, Primary Medical Care & Family
Medicine 18, 146-150 (in Chinese).
Lin, S. C., Koo, M., Chen, M. W., Tsai, K. W., 2013. Prevention and care of
osteoporosis in the elderly. Tzu Chi Nursing Journal 12(4), 58-62.
Masset, G., Monsivais, P., Maillot, M., Darmon, N., Drewnowski, A., 2009. Diet
optimization methods can help translate dietary guidelines into a cancer
prevention food plan. The Journal of nutrition 139(8), 1541-1548.
Marcoe, K., Juan, W., Yamini, S., Carlson, A., Britten, P., 2006. Development of
food group composites and nutrient profiles for the MyPyramid Food
Guidance System. Journal of nutrition education and behavior 38(6), S93-
S107.
MOI, 2017. Aging index broken hundred Taiwan elderly for the first time more
than children. Ministry of Interior, Taiwan. Available at
https://udn.com/news/story/8042/2333220 (in Chinese).
MOHW, 2017. Statistical result of ten leading cause of death. Ministry of Health
and Welfare, Taiwan. Available at http://www.mohw.gov.tw/cp-16-33598-
1.html (in Chinese).
Misra, A., Khurana, L., 2008. Obesity and the metabolic syndrome in developing
countries. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 93, s9-s30.
Nutrition Information (2017). Academia Sinica, Taiwan. Available at
https://gao.sinica.edu.tw/health/howeat_one.html (in Chinese).
Okubo, H., Sasaki, S., Murakami, K., Yokoyama, T., Hirota, N., Notsu, A., Date,
C., 2015. Designing optimal food intake patterns to achieve nutritional goals
for Japanese adults through the use of linear programming optimization
models. Nutrition journal 14(1), 57.
Pan, W. H., Wu, H. J., Yeh, C. J., Chuang, S. Y., Chang, H. Y., Yeh, N. H., Hsieh,
Y. T., 2011. Diet and health trends in Taiwan: comparison of two nutrition
and health surveys from 1993-1996 and 2005-2008. Asia Pacific journal of
clinical nutrition 20(2), 238-250.
Peng, C. J., Lin, C. Y., Guo, H. R., 2015a. A comparison of food supply from 1984
to 2009 and degree of dietary westernization in Taiwan with Asian countries
and world continents. BioMed research international, 12pages.
Peng, C. J., Lee, M. S., Wahlqvist, M. L., Pan, W. H., Lee, W. C., Lin, C., Guo, H.
R., 2015b. Needs-based food and nutrient security indices to monitor and
23
modify the food supply and intakes: Taiwan, 1991–2010. Food Policy 57,
142-152.
Popkin, B. M. (2006). Global nutrition dynamics: the world is shifting rapidly
toward a diet linked with noncommunicable diseases. The American journal
of clinical nutrition 84(2), 289-298.
Popkin, B. M., Gordon-Larsen, P., 2004. The nutrition transition: worldwide
obesity dynamics and their determinants. International journal of obesity 28,
S2-S9.
Soden, P. M., Fletcher, L. R., 1992. Modifying diets to satisfy nutritional
requirements using linear programming. British Journal of Nutrition 68(03),
565-572.
USDA, 2014. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
2013-2014, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved from
https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80400530/pdf/1314/Table_1_NIN
_GEN_13.pdf
24
Appendix Table 1. 12 Food Group and 48 Subgroup
Food group code Food name Subgroup code Subgroup name
A Cereal/Roots A1 Rice
A2 Wheat
A3 Roots
A4 Legume
B Oil B1 Plant oil
B2 Animal oil
B3 Nut
C Poultries C1 Chicken
C2 Duck
C3 Other poultry
D Livestock D1 Pork
D2 Beef
D3 Other livestock
E Fishes E1 Fresh-water fishes
E2 Salt-water fish
E3 Fish haslet and fish product
E4 Other fish
F Other
proteins
F1 Egg
F2 Dairy
F3 Soybean
G Vegetables G1 Dark green vegetable
G2 Light green vegetable
G3 Shoots
G4 Melons
G5 Beans
G6 Mushrooms
G7 Other vegetables
G8 Pickled vegetables
G9 Kelp
H Fruits H1 Fresh Fruit
H2 Fruit product
H3 Fresh fruit juice
I Snacks I1 Bread
I2 Pastry
Other snacks I6
25
Food group code Food name Subgroup code Subgroup name
I3 Candy
I4 Beverage
I5 Processed juice
J Alcohol J Alcohol
K Seasoning K1 Sugar
K2 Salt
K3 Soy sauce
K4 Other seasonings
L Others L1 Instant food
L2 Sandwich and hamburger
L3 Dumpling
L4 Soup
L5 Others
Source: National Food Consumption Database
26
Appendix Table 2. Six Food Group and Corresponded Subgroup
Six food group Group
code
Subgroup Formula
Cereal/Roots A Rice, Wheat, Roots, Legume One serving of Cereal/Roots
=carbohydrate/15
K1 Sugar
I, L
Bread, Pastry, Snack, Candy,
Beverage, Processed juice, Instant noodles, Sandwich,
Hamburger, Dumpling, Soup,
Other
Soybean/
Fish/
Meat/
Egg
C Poultry One serving of
Soybean/
Fish/Meat/Egg
=protein/7
D Livestock
E Fish
F1 Egg
F3 Soybean
I1, I2, I6,
L
Bread, Pastry, Snack, Instant
noodles, Sandwich, Hamburger,
Dumpling, Soup, Other
One serving of
soy/fish/meat/egg=
[protein-(servings
of Cereal×2)]/7
Oil/Nuts B1 Plant oil One serving of
Oil/Nuts=fat/5 B2 Animal oil
B3 Nut
I1, I2, I6,
L
Bread, Pastry, Snack, Instant
noodles, Sandwich, Hamburger,
Dumpling, Soup, Other
One serving of Oil
=[fat-(serving soy/fish/meat/egg
×5)]/5
Fruits H One serving of Fruit
=energy/60
Dairy F2 One serving of
Dairy
=protein/7
Vegetables G One serving of
Vegetable
=energy/25
Source: NAHSIT (2005-2008); this study
27
Appendix Table 3. Definition of One Serving of Food
Food definition
One serving of cereal/root Cereal=1/4 bowl of rice, 1/2 bowl of
Porridge, 1/2 bowl of rice products (rice
noodles, winter powder),2 slices of toast
(thin)
Root=1/2 bowl of sweet potato (or potato,
taro, lotus root, yam, pumpkin)
One serving of vegetable =Not cooked edible part of about 100 g =
cooked vegetables a dish (diameter 15 cm
about the size of the disc) or about half bowl
One serving of fruit =Fruit is equivalent to a fist or about 1 rice
bowl cut all kinds of fruit
One serving of dairy = 240c.c low-fat or skim milk
= 240c.c low-fat low-sugar or sugar-free
yogurt
= 3 tablespoons of low fat or skim milk
powder
= 2 Low-fat cheese (45g)
One serving of soy/fish/meat/egg Soy=Soybeans 20 g or 1 dried bean curd or
traditional tofu (80g) (thick; 2 cells) (thin; 3
grid) or tender tofu about 1/2 box
Fish= fish 37.5g (about half palm, about 1 cm
thick) or shrimp 37.5g
Meat=Poultry, livestock 37.5g (about half
palm , about 1 cm thick)
Egg=1 egg
One serving of oil/nut Oil = 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (about 5 g)
Nut= 1 tablespoon of peeled nuts (about 10 g)
top related