FAO DietSolve: A Diet Optimization Tool for Low- and Middle-Income Countries Developing Dietary Guidelines

BackgroundLow- and middle-income countries (LMICs) developing dietary guidelines often face challenges in translating nutrient requirements into practical, culturally acceptable recommendations due to limited data and technical resources. To address this gap, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) developed FAO DietSolve, a user-friendly tool designed to support such efforts through a systematic and evidence-based approach.ObjectiveTo present an overview of the FAO DietSolve methodology, demonstrating its application through a hypothetical example, and highlighting its utility in supporting the development of dietary guidelines in LMICs.MethodsFAO DietSolve uses a mathematical optimization approach using Microsoft Excel's Solver add-in. It combines food groups that meet both nutritional constraints (energy and nutrient requirements) and acceptability constraints (minimum/maximum limits for each food group), while optimizing an objective function. The tool also allows for integration of additional sustainability criteria such as cost, cultural acceptability, and environmental impact into developed dietary patterns. Food groupings are based on representative foods and food consumption data. Objective functions can vary, such as minimizing deviation from observed dietary patterns.ResultsThe tool has been utilized by 8 LMICs in developing their national dietary guidelines. The optimized dietary patterns generated have supported the creation of food selection guides tailored to different population groups and informed food graphics.ConclusionsFAO DietSolve provides LMICs with a practical, data-driven method for developing comprehensive, sustainable, and culturally appropriate dietary patterns. It enables countries to address multiple dimensions of diets and food systems, in line with FAO's new food systems-based dietary guidelines methodology.