Development of a tool to assess the compliance of cafeteria menus with the Mediterranean Diet.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The Mediterranean diet (MD) has been considered one of the healthiest dietary patterns, and an excellent model of sustainability. Higher Education food services present an excellent scenario to encourage students healthy eating habits and modulate food choices. The purpose of this work was to develop an index to evaluate MD compliance with cafeteria menus.

Methods

Three major axes were considered: MD key points, existing indexes on individual adherence to the MD and, existing indexes on menu assessment. The index includes four levels: (I) assesses the availability (IA), variety and frequency (IB) of food; (II) evaluates menu's nutritional quality; (III) assesses the menu's quality through information provided in the dishes' technical specifications and (IV) allows

SUBMITTER: Silva SS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11656561 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature