A diet recommendation for diabetic patients using integer programming

The rapid changes of lifestyles especially eating habits of fast-food and convenience food which are usually rich in sodium and sugar or carbohydrate lead to other chronic diseases especially for diabetics. Diet practice is one of the very important steps that the diabetic patients can take care of in order to avoid to other complications. The diet planning of a diabetic patient aims to balance up the nutrients and to control the level of blood glucose in the body with minimal cost. This paper aims to provide a combination of food menu that satisfies the daily nutrient requirements of a diabetic person at a minimum cost. An integer programming model of a diabetic diet problem is developed to determine the food combination that satisfies the standard daily nutritional requirements for two days and repetition of menu is prohibited. In this study, a sensitivity analysis is performed by substituting meals. It is found that the best combination of menu for two days for a diabetic patient is at the cost of RM49.10. The optimal solution for the two days menu plan fulfils the standard nutritional requirements for diabetic patients. It is suggested that the findings can be used as a guideline for the diabetic patients themselves or for hospital management to suggest meal planning for diabetic patients.