Optimization

The optimal diet is a diet that complies to the constraints that have been set for nutrition and environment, which is as similar as possible to the reference diet. Reasoning behind this is that people find changing their dietary habits quite difficult and adoption of dietary changes is likelier to happen when the suggested diet is close to the reference diet.

Linear programming vs quadratic programming

Optimeal uses either Linear Programming (LP) or Quadratic Programming (QP) for the optimization. A penalty is attributed for every change and the goal of the optimization is to minimize the amount of penalties. Using LP a specific amount of changes comes with a set amount of penalty, but with QP the penalty increases with the amount of changes per product. This results in more changed products than when applying LP. It is also possible to approach a goal, either directly or using stepwise optimization. 

Watch Knowledge Clip Mathematical Optimization of Diets

An Optimeal license comes with a default EU dataset, which is mainly built on European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) data. You can also use your own data in Optimeal.

Default EU dataset in Optimeal

This default dataset consists of:

• Reference diet: The reference diet (EU) is the starting point of the optimization. It is based on Food Consumption Surveys in Europe and is a representation of the average EU diet. The diet is constructed for doing environmental oriented optimizations with a synoptic and limited set of products (173 products).
• Nutritional constraints The nutritional constraints define if a diet can be considered healthy or “nutritionally sound”. The upper and lower limits of the nutritional properties are the boundaries used in the optimization. If the nutrition provided by the diet falls outside one of the boundaries, it will be corrected during the optimization to fit the nutritional constraints.
• Nutritional properties for the products in the reference diet (kcal, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, et cetera) The nutritional properties of the products in the EU database are based on the EFSA Food Composition Data. This database contains over 2500 products with multiple preparation methods (e.g. cooking in water, baking, cooking in oil, steaming) reported by 10 European countries. For each nutrient, an average was calculated based on the reporting countries. Examples of nutritional properties are kcal, vitamins, minerals and amino acids.
• Environmental properties (Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) impacts) for the products in the reference diet. The environmental properties of products are important for determining the environmental sustainability of a diet. The environmental impact is calculated with help of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology (in line with ISO 14040/44 standards). This methodology captures the impact of a product (or service) through-out its life cycle.
  The following environmental impact categories are assessed for the default EU dataset:

• Global warming (excl. Land Use Change);
• Fine particulate matter formation;
• Terrestrial acidification;
• Freshwater eutrophication;
• Marine eutrophication;
• Land use;
• Fossil resource scarcity.
• Water consumption

The system boundary in this dataset is defined as Farm-to-Fork, including all activities taking place at the farm (agriculture and husbandry), all the way through processing, retail and consumption. Read more about the default EU dataset in the comprehensive methodology report .

Custom-made datasets

In addition to the EU dataset, it is also possible to provide custom-made datasets. For example, for specific regions, diets, age categories or activity levels, or with gender-specific nutritional boundaries. The first available regional dataset is for the Netherlands. Please get in touch with us to discuss the possibilities. 

Yes, it is possible to use your own data and datasets in Optimeal.

• Adding new products and properties
You might want to add your company’s products to the dataset to be able to introduce your product into the reference or optimized diet. You might also want to add properties to be able to integrate your companies KPIs into the dataset and investigate the performance. Within Optimeal it is possible to add new food products and add new properties.

• Product creator: product innovations
The product creator is a feature in Optimeal which will give insights into the nutritional and environmental profile of your new product (innovations). You can alter ingredient combinations to identify the optimal composition for the intended market. When you are satisfied with the product composition, you can introduce the new product into a diet for a thorough analysis of how it can make the best contribution to a balanced diet.

• Create your own full dataset
It is also possible to use your own dataset in Optimeal. You need to develop your dataset using Excel and upload it into the tool. Currently, this feature is under construction and will be added in the near future. In the meantime, we can assist in uploading your own dataset so you can work with your own data in Optimeal.

Data quality has not been monitored for the EU Optimeal dataset. However, we are working on implementing data quality rating in the database development and wish to include this rating in a future update of Optimeal. 

We have prepared an extensive methodology document to give you insights into the methodology and details about the data used.

Download Methodology Report

Optimeal is used by a range of food companies, government bodies and NGOs, to solve complex problems related to healthy and sustainable diets. Some examples are:

• Scenario studies: Definition a food policy that is future proof.
• Product development: Position a food product or product group into the market.
• Product innovation: Create food products with a better (future proof) profile in the context of regional diets.

Yes, we have page where you can find several peer-reviewed scientific papers. 

Go to Optimeal publications