Healthy Diet Index aims to make diet assessment fast and easy

15 Mar 2021 --- Finnish researchers have validated the effective use of the Healthy Diet Index, a new tool for assessing diet patterns, in a recent study. 

The Healthy Diet Index provides a fast alternative to lengthy questionnaires or food journals, facilitating its practical implementation in health care, Kirsikka Aittola, junior researcher of the StopDia project at the University of Eastern Finland, tells NutritionInsight.

“The index gives a good idea of the overall quality of the diet with sufficient accuracy. This is often enough for caregivers and physicians, for example, to support lifestyle counseling in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases,” she adds. 

The next step in disseminating the Healthy Diet Index is to pilot it as part of health care services, integrating it into Finland’s Hospital District’s digital health care services, explains Aittola. 

The Healthy Diet Index is based on a validated food intake questionnaire previously developed for the prevention and care of diabetes.Preventing disease with nutrition
The Index was developed for the Stop Diabetes (StopDia) project, aimed at preventing chronic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes in Finland. 

“At present, very few easy and reliable methods for assessing the overall quality of diet exist, which is key in the prevention of chronic diseases,” notes Aittola. 

The Healthy Diet Index is based on a validated food intake questionnaire previously developed and used as part of Finland’s national program for the prevention and care of diabetes.

“Additionally, the interpretation of the Healthy Diet Index does not require the competence of a nutritionist, as is the case with food diaries.” 

A professor of nutrition therapy and co-author on the study, Ursula Schwab from the University of Eastern Finland, adds: “The new Healthy Diet Index is fairly similar to previous scoring methods, but it also assesses the meal pattern, which has often been highlighted as a stumbling block in weight management when working with patients.” 

Zero to one hundred rating
The Healthy Diet Index describes diet quality relating to nutrition recommendations and Type 2 diabetes prevention. The scale of the index is from 0 to 100. 

In addition, it gives a score to different domains of the diet, including meal pattern, grains, fruit and vegetables, fats, fish and meat, dairy and snacks and treats. 

The aim was to create a scoring method that is sensitive even to minor changes in eating habits, which facilitates the monitoring of changes and may give additional motivation to implement dietary changes.

Dietary counseling is easier and more concrete for the client when the diet is assessed as a whole instead of individual nutrients, and when food-specific advice is given, write the researchers. 

The Healthy Diet Index was created in collaboration among nutrition experts from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, the University of Eastern Finland, Tampere University Hospital and Pirkanmaa Hospital District.

A higher Healthy Diet Index score was associated with a lower body mass index, waist circumference and blood glucose and triglyceride levels in both men and women.Leveraging the StopDia data
The recently published study examined data from 3,100 people who had an elevated risk of developing Type 2 diabetes who participated in the StopDia study. 

The Healthy Diet Index score was found to be associated with the intake of energy nutrients, fiber and several vitamins and minerals. 

In the StopDia dataset, a higher Healthy Diet Index score was associated with a lower body mass index, waist circumference and blood glucose and triglyceride levels in both men and women. 

Bringing the Healthy Diet Index to health care
Aittola foresees that the Healthy Diet Index will be used to monitor the quality of a diet as well as in nutrition counseling as part of integrated digital health care.  

“Promisingly, many regions in Finland have been interested in the Healthy Diet Index,” she says.

In addition to the StopDia study, the group of researchers also intends to pilot the Healthy Diet Index in the Pohjois-Savo AI Hub project as part of the Pohjois-Savo Biobank.

Digital support
The use of the Healthy Diet Index needs automatized calculation, for example, with an application to support it.  

“An automated and clearly visualized Healthy Diet Index would be an excellent tool for health care professionals to support dietary counseling.” 

“It could also serve as a self-monitoring tool for patients, and it could include clear tips on how to make dietary changes based on one’s own responses,” Aittola says.

“It would be great to find a partner for such a development. I hope that the Healthy Diet Index will be incorporated into national digital health services, not just regionally,” she concludes. 

Interest in telehealth has sharply risen amid the COVID-19 pandemic. While many look for ways to automate strides in personalized nutrition, a study last October found that digital tools complement – not replace – live nutritionists. 

By Missy Green