Development and validation of a new simple Healthy Meal Index for canteen meals

Anne Dahl Lassen; Anja Biltoft-Jensen; Gitte L Hansen; Ole Hels; Inge Tetens

doi:10.1017/s1368980009993077

Development and validation of a new simple Healthy Meal Index for canteen meals

Anne Dahl Lassen, Anja Biltoft-Jensen, Gitte L Hansen, Ole Hels, Inge Tetens

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

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 < 0001). 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 < 0001).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.

Original language	English
Journal	Public Health Nutrition
Volume	13
Issue number	10
Pages (from-to)	1559-1565
Number of pages	7
ISSN	1368-9800
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980009993077
Publication status	Published - 2010
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Diet
Dietary Carbohydrates
Dietary Fats
Energy Intake
Food Analysis
Food Services
Fruit
Humans
Nutritive Value
Vegetables
Workplace
Nutrition assessment
Energy density
Validation Studies
Plate model

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title = "Development and validation of a new simple Healthy Meal Index for canteen meals",

abstract = "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 < 0001). 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 < 0001).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.",

keywords = "Diet, Dietary Carbohydrates, Dietary Fats, Energy Intake, Food Analysis, Food Services, Fruit, Humans, Nutritive Value, Vegetables, Workplace, Nutrition assessment, Energy density, Validation Studies, Plate model",

author = "Lassen, {Anne Dahl} and Anja Biltoft-Jensen and Hansen, {Gitte L} and Ole Hels and Inge Tetens",

year = "2010",

doi = "10.1017/s1368980009993077",

language = "English",

volume = "13",

pages = "1559--1565",

journal = "Public Health Nutrition",

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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 < 0001). 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 < 0001).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 < 0001). 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 < 0001).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

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SN - 1368-9800

VL - 13

SP - 1559

EP - 1565

JO - Public Health Nutrition

JF - Public Health Nutrition

IS - 10

ER -

Development and validation of a new simple Healthy Meal Index for canteen meals

Abstract

Keywords

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