TY - JOUR

T1 - Nutritionally optimized, culturally acceptable, cost-minimized diets for low income Ghanaian families using linear programming

AU - Nykänen, Esa Pekka A

AU - Dunning, Hanna E

AU - Aryeetey, Richmond N O

AU - Robertson, Aileen

AU - Parlesak, Alexandr

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - The Ghanaian population suffers from a double burden of malnutrition. Cost of food is considered a barrier to achieving a health-promoting diet. Food prices were collected in major cities and in rural areas in southern Ghana. Linear programming (LP) was used to calculate nutritionally optimized diets (food baskets (FBs)) for a low-income Ghanaian family of four that fulfilled energy and nutrient recommendations in both rural and urban settings. Calculations included implementing cultural acceptability for families living in extreme and moderate poverty (food budget under USD 1.9 and 3.1 per day respectively). Energy-appropriate FBs minimized for cost, following Food Balance Sheets (FBS), lacked key micronutrients such as iodine, vitamin B12 and iron for the mothers. Nutritionally adequate FBs were achieved in all settings when optimizing for a diet cheaper than USD 3.1. However, when delimiting cost to USD 1.9 in rural areas, wild foods had to be included in order to meet nutritional adequacy. Optimization suggested to reduce roots, tubers and fruits and to increase cereals, vegetables and oil-bearing crops compared with FBS. LP is a useful tool to design culturally acceptable diets at minimum cost for low-income Ghanaian families to help advise national authorities how to overcome the double burden of malnutrition.

AB - The Ghanaian population suffers from a double burden of malnutrition. Cost of food is considered a barrier to achieving a health-promoting diet. Food prices were collected in major cities and in rural areas in southern Ghana. Linear programming (LP) was used to calculate nutritionally optimized diets (food baskets (FBs)) for a low-income Ghanaian family of four that fulfilled energy and nutrient recommendations in both rural and urban settings. Calculations included implementing cultural acceptability for families living in extreme and moderate poverty (food budget under USD 1.9 and 3.1 per day respectively). Energy-appropriate FBs minimized for cost, following Food Balance Sheets (FBS), lacked key micronutrients such as iodine, vitamin B12 and iron for the mothers. Nutritionally adequate FBs were achieved in all settings when optimizing for a diet cheaper than USD 3.1. However, when delimiting cost to USD 1.9 in rural areas, wild foods had to be included in order to meet nutritional adequacy. Optimization suggested to reduce roots, tubers and fruits and to increase cereals, vegetables and oil-bearing crops compared with FBS. LP is a useful tool to design culturally acceptable diets at minimum cost for low-income Ghanaian families to help advise national authorities how to overcome the double burden of malnutrition.

KW - Cost of diet

KW - Food accessibility

KW - Food baskets

KW - Linear programming

KW - Non-communicable diseases

U2 - 10.3390/nu10040461

DO - 10.3390/nu10040461

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 29642444

AN - SCOPUS:85045082162

VL - 10

JO - Nutrients

JF - Nutrients

SN - 2072-6643

IS - 4

M1 - 461

ER -