[Evaluation of the diet based on the variability of the food composition data]

Nutrient composition is a necessary part in the assessing of nutritional value of diets and new foods. According to the results of comparison of nutrient value of the diet with daily requirements the judgment on compliance of the diet (or product) to norm or deviation from the standard is taken out. In the interpretation of the term "value corresponds to the norm" in modern practice, only average values are used, while the content of nutrients in food is not described by fixed values, but has a statistical nature, which creates difficulties in the conscientious development of diets and their harmonization in sanitary authorities. Specifying a range of normative values (±5-10%) does not provide a valid solution. The aim of the research was to assess the size of the spread of nutrient content for the diet as a whole and to use this estimate in relation to the task of "comparing the actual value and the norm". Material and methods. In this work, we used the method of mathematical modeling of recipes, the calculation of nutrient content based on that of ingredients, and reference publications on the nutrient composition of products and collections of recipes were used as starting materials. Results and discussion. The calculation of nutrient composition according to the recipe is described, taking into account not only average values, but also scatter indicators (error) of nutrient content values, which makes it possible to reasonably make judgments about the compliance of the actual value with the established reference value. The calculation of estimates of the spread of nutrient composition values using the information about the error of the initial data on the nutrient composition of the products, the output of the absolute and relative error in the formulation and the whole diet was described. Examples of calculations of scatter estimates are given: for one recipe/ nutrient (primary); calculation for days and mealtimes; for a day of a cyclic menu and for a 4-week cycle of school meals menus (primary and secondary school age). The mapping of the variables having a statistical nature has been graphically showed, the measure of estimating the proximity of the values of the statistical nature has been proposed discrete and continuous. Comparison of indicators of variability of domestic and foreign reference databases, mapping information about variation in the types of meals, differences in the extent of variation in the nutrients has been given. Conclusions. The conclusions are formulated on the need for statistical presentation of consumption reference values for research for various reasons of variability, on the need to take statistics into account for the system of accumulating data on nutrient composition in databases.