Development and validation of a new simple Healthy Meal Index for canteen meals
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Development and validation of a new simple Healthy Meal Index for canteen meals. / Lassen, Anne Dahl; Biltoft-Jensen, Anja; Hansen, Gitte L; Hels, Ole; Tetens, Inge.
In: Public Health Nutrition, Vol. 13, No. 10, 2010, p. 1559-1565.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Development and validation of a new simple Healthy Meal Index for canteen meals
AU - Lassen, Anne Dahl
AU - Biltoft-Jensen, Anja
AU - Hansen, Gitte L
AU - Hels, Ole
AU - Tetens, Inge
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - OBJECTIVE: Nutrition evaluation tools should be developed both for scientific purposes and to encourage and facilitate healthy nutritional practices. The purpose of the present study was to develop and validate a simple food-based Healthy Meal Index (HMI) reflecting the nutritional profile of individual canteen meals.DESIGN: The development process included overall model selection, setting nutritional goals and defining scoring systems and thresholds. Three index components were included: (i) contents of fruit and vegetables, (ii) fat content and quality and (iii) contents of wholegrain products and potatoes. The development was built on the principles embodied by the Plate Model, but providing more specificity in some areas. The simple HMI was validated against weighed and chemically analysed food and nutrient content of a representative sample of canteen meals. The sample was split into four categories according to the total index score and compared across categories.SETTING: A total of 180 meals from fifteen worksite canteens.RESULTS: Average energy density decreased significantly across categories (from 876 kJ/100 g to 537 kJ/100 g, P < 0.001). Also, the content of total and saturated fat, carbohydrate and fruit and vegetables varied across categories with higher score values being closer to dietary guidelines (P < 0.001).CONCLUSIONS: The simple HMI was successful in ranking canteen meals according to their nutritional quality. The index provides a valuable tool to both researchers and food and nutrition professionals, e.g. caterers and dietitians, who wish to evaluate nutritional quality of meals in line with the recommendations for healthier eating without the use of nutrition calculation programs.
AB - OBJECTIVE: Nutrition evaluation tools should be developed both for scientific purposes and to encourage and facilitate healthy nutritional practices. The purpose of the present study was to develop and validate a simple food-based Healthy Meal Index (HMI) reflecting the nutritional profile of individual canteen meals.DESIGN: The development process included overall model selection, setting nutritional goals and defining scoring systems and thresholds. Three index components were included: (i) contents of fruit and vegetables, (ii) fat content and quality and (iii) contents of wholegrain products and potatoes. The development was built on the principles embodied by the Plate Model, but providing more specificity in some areas. The simple HMI was validated against weighed and chemically analysed food and nutrient content of a representative sample of canteen meals. The sample was split into four categories according to the total index score and compared across categories.SETTING: A total of 180 meals from fifteen worksite canteens.RESULTS: Average energy density decreased significantly across categories (from 876 kJ/100 g to 537 kJ/100 g, P < 0.001). Also, the content of total and saturated fat, carbohydrate and fruit and vegetables varied across categories with higher score values being closer to dietary guidelines (P < 0.001).CONCLUSIONS: The simple HMI was successful in ranking canteen meals according to their nutritional quality. The index provides a valuable tool to both researchers and food and nutrition professionals, e.g. caterers and dietitians, who wish to evaluate nutritional quality of meals in line with the recommendations for healthier eating without the use of nutrition calculation programs.
KW - Diet
KW - Dietary Carbohydrates
KW - Dietary Fats
KW - Energy Intake
KW - Food Analysis
KW - Food Services
KW - Fruit
KW - Humans
KW - Nutritive Value
KW - Vegetables
KW - Workplace
KW - Nutrition assessment
KW - Energy density
KW - Validation Studies
KW - Plate model
U2 - 10.1017/S1368980009993077
DO - 10.1017/S1368980009993077
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 20100389
VL - 13
SP - 1559
EP - 1565
JO - Public Health Nutrition
JF - Public Health Nutrition
SN - 1368-9800
IS - 10
ER -
ID: 184386061