(P12-007-24) Using Nutrient Profile Models To Demonstrate the Nutrient Quality of Thai Side Dishes and Build Healthy Meals

Objectives: To demonstrate the overall nutritional quality of common Thai side dishes, what nutrients should be adjusted, and how these dishes complement each other to achieve optimized balanced meals using nutrient profiling.

Methods: Two nutrient profiling systems were developed. The nutrient profile algorithm for 8 Thai side dishes (NP-Dish) was modified from Thailand's healthier choices nutrient scoring algorithm for composite meal categories. Nutrient criteria included 4 desirable nutrients (protein, dietary fiber, calcium, iron) and 4 limiting nutrients (total fat, saturated fat, added sugar, sodium). Side dishes with known recipes were analyzed using INMUCAL V. 4 software to establish average nutrient content per common serving and evaluated against NP-Dish. Since Thai meals typically consist of rice and complementary dishes, the nutrient profile alogorithm of a meal (NP-Meal) was set at about one-third of Thai DRI. The same 8 nutrients contained in the NP-Dish system were used, plus energy and the amount of vegetables per one meal. Various dish combinations in a meal were tested against NP-Meal to assess nutrient quality.

Results: In total, 168 recipes for 8 side dishes were evaluated. None obtained a complete score. The 3 highest scoring dishes were Thai soup (72.5 ± 12.4 %), chili paste with vegetable (65.0 ± 10.0 %) and spicy salad (52.5 ± 14.9 %) . All dishes had high protein scores, low sodium scores, and had good iron scores per 100 kcal, except for stir-fried dishes. Low scores for fat were found for Thai coconut milk curry and for stir-fried or deep-fried recipes. NP-Dish identified which aspects of a dish could be improved nutritionally, especially in terms of sodium, fat, and calcium. Thirty-six out of 50 side dish combinations with ajusted portion sizes provided at least 70% of NP-Meal criteria. It is recommended that further evaluation studies be conducted to test and validate the NP-Dish and NP-Meal systems taking into considearation a larger sample size, dietary quality and optimal calories based on national dietary guidelines.

Conclusions: The nutrient profile perspective suggests that Thai cusine can be modified to increase nutrient complementary within and between dishes and meals to improve dietary diversity and healthy eating.

Funding Sources: Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University