Individual diet modeling translates nutrient recommendations into realistic and individual-specific food choices

International audienceBackground: Nutrient-based recommendations are defined for populations, but the dietary choices needed to fulfill them at the individual level deserve further exploration. Objective: The objective was to describe the dietary changes needed to achieve nutritional recommendations for each individual of a population. Design: An individual diet model was specifically developed for each adult participating in the French national INCA (Enquête Individuelle et Nationale sur les Consommations Alimentaires) dietary survey (n = 1171). Starting from each individual weekly food intake (observed diets), an isocaloric modeled diet was designed by linear programming to simultaneously meet the French nutrient recommendations for 32 nutrients while deviating the least from the observed food intake. Modeled diets were paired with observed diets for statistical comparison. Results: A new nutritionally adequate diet was obtained for each individual. In half the modeled diets,