The healthy diet chart developed by Finnish nutritionists enables the assessment of diet quality. Its effectiveness has been demonstrated in a recently published study.
Dietary counseling plays a vital role in the prevention and treatment of harmful lifestyle diseases. In health care settings, diet counseling is often provided by professionals without special training in nutrition, and there is a demand for tools for reliable and easy assessment of diet quality. One such tool is the Healthy Diet Index developed in the recently completed Stop Diabetes (StopDia) project.
The Healthy Diet Table describes the quality of the diet in terms of nutritional recommendations, and to a diet that prevents type 2 diabetes. The scale of the index is from 0 to 100. In addition. , the Healthy Diet Index also scores various areas of the diet, including food pattern, grains, fruits and vegetables, fats, fish and meat, milk and snacks and sweets. .
The goal was to create a scoring method that is sensitive to even small changes in eating habits, allows for tracking changes and can provide additional motivation to adjust dietary changes. implementation.
The Healthy Diet Table was created in collaboration between nutritionists from the Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare, University of Eastern Finland, Tampere University Hospital and Pirkanmaa Hospital District.
The Healthy Diet Table is based on a validated food validation questionnaire previously developed and used as part of the Finnish national program for diabetes prevention and care (DEHKO). However, it is difficult to see the whole diet on the basis of individual questions. Diet counseling is easier and more concrete for the client when the diet is assessed as a whole instead of individual nutrition, and when specific dietary advice is given.
The recently published study compared the Healthy Diet Index to the nutritional intake measured from food diaries (n = 77). The researchers also studied the association between the Healthy Diet Index score with risk factors for chronic disease in 3,100 people at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes, and who participated in the study StopDia.
The Healthy Diet Index score was found to be related to the intake of energy, fiber, and several vitamins and minerals. In the StopDia set, a higher Healthy Diet Index score was associated with lower body index, waist circumference, and blood glucose and triglyceride levels in both men and women. The study was published in International Journal of Environmental and Public Health Research.
“The results support the importance of dietary changes in the prevention of harmful diseases such as type 2 diabetes. Even small improvements in eating habits are important for health, when re-introduced. The effect on health is visible even if a person does not lose weight, “he said Early Level Researcher Kirsikka Aittola, who is writing a PhD thesis on StopDia Study at the University of Eastern Finland.
Scoring methods that measure dietary quality have also been developed in the past, including the DASH index for the prevention of high blood pressure, but these often require the completion of a food frequency questionnaire.
The healthy diet index is very similar to previous scoring methods, but also evaluates the pattern of the diet, which has often been identified as an obstacle in weight management when working with patients. Importantly, the Healthy Diet Table was created according to the nutritional recommendations. “
Ursula Schwab, Professor, Nutritional Medicine, University of Eastern Finland
The food intake questionnaire is quick and easy to complete but automation is required to make a healthy diet index.
“An automated and clearly visible Healthy Diet Index would be a great tool for health care professionals to support diet counseling. So it would be important to integrate it into electronic health care services and various pathways. It could also be a self – examination tool for patients, and it could include clear suggestions on how to make dietary changes based on your own responses, “Aittola explains. say.
Source:
University of Eastern Finland (UEF Viestintä)
Magazine Reference:
Lindström, J., et al. (2021) Creation and validation of a healthy diet index (HDI) for quality assessment of diet in health care. International Journal of Environmental and Public Health Research. doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052362.