GB2419704A - Method for determining the dietary requirements of an individual - Google Patents

Abstract

A diet formulated to dietary requirements of an individual, wherein the diet is formulated to the dietary requirements of the individual by performing a series of tests on the individual and processing the results of those tests in an algorithm.

Description

Method for Establishing a Diet Matching the Health Requirements of an

Individual

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to diet, and in particular to establishing what type of diet suits an individual and generating diet plans suitable for delivering the established diet type.

Background of the Invention

Good nutrition is vital to the health and well-being of individuals. Individuals are faced with much conflicting advice as regards to diet. UK government health spokesmen advise individuals to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables each day, to eat a certain number of portions of oily fish each week, to reduce intake of salt, saturated fats and sugar, and not to consume more than a certain amount of alcohol each week.

In addition to "Official" advice, many people follow diets, usually with the aim of losing weight, but also to improve their general health and well being. The diet industry is worth many millions of pounds annually, with new diets promising easy weight loss being introduced regularly.

The diet industry is the subject of fashion. One day diet promoters may be advocating low fat high carbohydrate diets, yet another day high fat and high protein diets may be en vogue.

Individuals seeking to lose weight often struggle. Some struggle because they cannot follow the diet accurately, whilst others do follow the diet but still struggle.

A problem often encountered by dieters (people who generally want to weigh less than the do) is that their weight is subject to wide fluctuations. They tend to go through a cycle of dieting to lose weight followed by a period of not d1ing when they gain weight, often reachmg or exceeding their p re-diet weight, when they begin dieting again. This is often termed the diet yo-yo'.

Another problem associated with modem diets is the inclusion of excessive amounts of sugar and salt.

Another problem faced by individuals is knowing whether they are eating food that is good for them.

A principal problem with current diets, whether for weight loss or general well being is that they prescribe the same mix of foods for all people. They fail to recognise that people are individuals. If one looks at different races around the world, we can see that people can live healthily on totally different diets. For example, Eskimos live primarily on animal protein, oil and fat, whereas the Quechus Indians of South America eat a diet rich in vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds with a minimal amount of animal derived foods. Despite these differences in diet, tribes that are not influenced by the Western lifestyle are very healthy, with excellent facial structures, strong teeth, good skin complexion and a distinct lack of illness such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Furthermore, they only carry as much body fat as is required to survive periods of famine.

Eating foods that are not suited to our bodies causes a host of problems resulting from the body's biochemistry becoming imhalanced (too acid or alkaline). The body's components gradually begin to wear down until eventually the whole system stops working smoothly.

There are many symptoms that give an indication that our body is not functioning correctly, varying from digestive problems such as bloating, excessive gas, wind, abdominal cramps, constipation and diarrhea, to skin problems such as rashes, eczema and dandruf aches and pains including headaches, low energy levels and impaired concentration, sweet cravings and allergies.

Indeed, being overweight is in many cases simply a sign that the body is out of balance and is not receiving adequate nutrition.

The evidence of the Quechus Indians and Eskimos suggests that the type of food an individual requires is dependent on his genetic make up. Genetic diversity of individuals in Western societies would suggest that individuals within those societies would require different diets.

Research shows that each of us requires certain groups of foods to either rebalance the body, or to keep it in balance. An orange, for example, will push the cells of one person towards acid, but will push another towards alkaline - the complete opposite. Some people are already too acid whereas some are too alkaline. There fore, oranges ate very good for some people, but not so good for others. The same applies to nearly all other foods. Also, individuals require different proportions of carbohydrate and protein in order to enable the body's cells to produce optimal amounts of energy. When the mix of foods is right, the body can begin to function more efficiently. As this happens, the body will find its natural weight and begin to detoxifj. Along the way, many symptoms may be alleviated. If we continue to eat according to our bodies' requirements, sustained weight loss and improved health result Research also shows that eating different foods can affect the way an individual feels, i.e. different foods give rise to different feeling states. When an individual has a positive feeling state he should have energy, mental clarity, the ability to concentrate and should not crave foods such as sweets. When an individual has a negative feeling state he may be bloated, have excess wind, niggling aches and pains, headaches and tiredness.

It would therefore be desirable to provide a diet designed to match the requirements of an individual.

Further, it would be desirable to be able to establish the dietary requirements of an individual.

Still further, it would be desirable to be able to be able to fixmulate a diet matched to the dietary requirements of an individual.

Summary of the Invention

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a method of deiermirnng the dietary requirements of an individual as specified in Claim 1.

According to another aspect ofthe invention there is provided a method of formulating a diet as specified Claim 15.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a diet as specified in Claim 16.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided apparatus as specified in Claim 18.

The computer program may be embodied on a record medium, in a computer memory, in a read-only memory or on an electrical carrier signaL The computer program may be accessible via an internet website.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments of the Invention The invention is based on the premise that individuals can be categorised into one of three different types, namely: "protein and &t types", "caibohydrate types" and "balanced types". A category is assigned to an individual by performing tests on that person and processing the results of the tests into an algorithm.

The tests used in a preferred embodiment of the invention involve the individual eating three different meal types on two occasions each and the individual answering a number of questions, each question being assigned a weighing prior to the individual answering the questions.

The questions relate to feehng states, i.e. how the individual feels after eating the meal, and the feeling states are broken down into "positive" feeling states and "negative" feeling states. If the individual answers "yes" to a question, then the assigned weighting value is added to the score.

Positive feeling states have positive values, whereas negative feeling states have negative values. The final score for any one test is the sum of the positive and negative feeling values.

The individual is required to eat three meal types. One meal type is high in carbohydrate, one meal type is high in protein and frt and one (termed high protein meal) is balanced for protein, ft and carbohydrate.

The algorithm further formats the test result by multiplying the test score for a high carbohydrate meal by -1.

The next step of the algorithm is to add together the scores for the six test results to give a, "formatted score from the meal tests".

The individual is then asked to answer a series of questions about diet trait. In the preferred embodiment there are five questions, each having three possible responses. A score is assigned to each of these responses.

The next step in the algorithm involves summing the scores from each of the responses to produce a, "Total score value from diet trait questions".

The next step in the algorithm is to generate a "final score" by adding together the "formatted score from the meal tests" to the "total score value from diet trait questions".

The next step in the algorithm is to compare the final score with ranges pre-classifled as indicating "protein & Fat types", "carbohydrate types" and "balanced types".

In the example, the score will range from +200 to -200. The algorithm process the score as follows: i) Score that above +66 are classed as Protein & Fat Types.

ii) Scores that are below -66 are classed as Cathohydrate Types.

iii) Scores between -66 and +66 ate classed as Balanced Types.

The fact that an individual is classified as a protein and Fat type does not mean that the individual should eat only protein and Fats [types], and nor should a person classified as a carbohydrate type eat only carbohydrate. However, the relative proportions of each food type would be different fl)r each different classification.

The method for determining the dietary requirements is preferably embodied in computer software, part ofwhich is desirably downloadable from an internet website. Preferably, an individual's responses to questions regarding diet can be submitted to the same website. Data from the responses is processed according to the algorithm by the software running on the website, or by software running on another computer. Once processed by the software based algorithm, the individual's dietary requirements ate returned to him. This may be done via the website, in an email, or another fbtTn of communcation.

The above-mentioned website may include a plurality of tools for assisting individuals in following the prescribed diet. For example, the website may include a feeling state tracker. The feeling state tracker requires the individual to answer questions after eating certain foods. The answers to these questions are processed by an algorithm The response test fbmi used to establish and track feeling may be the same as the meal test form.

To determine the starch requirement of an individual an individual follows a number of steps: i) for an initial period of 5 to 7 days eating a diet consisting of proteins, fats and non- starchy carbohydrates; ii) recording feeling states one and a half to two hours after eating a meal on a feeling state recording sheet; in) after the initial period progressively increasing the proportion of starch in the diet; iv) inputting a feeling state score into computer program based algorithm; v) inputting the starch in take from the meal into the computer program based algorithm; wherein the computer program based algorithm generates a graph of feeling state tius starch intake.

The feeling state tracker allows individuals to conveniently see the aflécts of a product, in this case starch, on their well being.

The invention further provides for the tracking ofweight and size. The weight tracker plots weight against time, over the course of days, weeks and months. The size tracker operates in the same manner as the weight tracker but records size, e.g. waist size, rather than weight.

The website may include menu plans, advice on foodstuffs and lifestyle. The computer software may match the determined dietary requirements with menu plans, advice on foodstuffs and lifestyle swtable for the dietary requirements of the individual.

By embodying the algorithm ofthe invention into computer software individuals can conveniently establish their dietary requirements without requiting the professional seivices of a nutrition consultant or dielician. Furthermore, by associating meal plans and food advice individuals can obtain a diet matched to their dietary requirements, or can easily obtain foodstuffs from which they can create meals matching their dietary requirements. Qain

Claims (21)

1. A method for determining the dietary requirements of the individual by

performing a series of tests on the individual and processing the results of those tests in an algorithm.

2. A method according to Claim 1, wherein the series of tests require the individual to eat a series of meals including meals having different balances of protein, fat, and carbohydrate.

3. A method according to Claim 2, wherein one meal is relatively high in protein, one meal is relatively high in protein and fat, and one meal is relatively high in carbohydrate.

4. A method according to Claim 2 or 3, wherein the series of meals consists of six meals.

5. A method according to Claim 4, wherein the six meals including meals having three different balances ofprotein, fat and cathohydrate, each meal being eaten twice.

6. A method according to any of Claims 2 to 5, wherein the senes of tests includes answering a series of questions relating to positive and negative feeling states after eating each of the said meals.

7. A method according to Claim 6, wherein each question in the series of questions is assigned a weighting value.

8. A method according to Claim 6, wherein for each test the weighting values associated with the individual's responses to questions relating to negative feelings are subtracted from the weighting values associated with the individual's responses to questions relating to positive feelings.

9. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the algorithm includes the step of multiplying the scores relating to tests where the meal was relatively high in carbohydrate are multiplied by -1 to give a formatted high carbohydrate score.

10. A method according to Claim 9, wherein the scores from each meal test where the meal is high in protein or high in fat are added to the formatted high carbohydrate score to give a formatted meal test score.

11. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the individual is required to answer a series of questions relating to diet traits by selecting one of a plurality of response to a question in the series, and wherein each response is assigned a weighting value, and wherein the weighting value associated with the selected responses to the questions are added together to give a diet trait score.

12. A method acconuing to Claim 11, wherein the algorithm further includes the step of addmg the formatted meal test score to the diet trait score to give a final score.

13, A method according to Claim 12, wherein the algorithm compares the final score with pre-defined ranges of scores, each range being assigned one of three classifications of dietary requirement and wherein the algorithm generates a result defining the classification of dietary requirement of the individual.

14. A method according to Claim 13, wherein the dietary requirement is classed as high in protein and fit, high in carbohydrate, or balanced.

15. A method of formulating a diet matched to the dietary requirements of an individual comprising the steps of i) establishing the dietary requirements of an individual according to any of Claims 1 to 14; u) issuing at least one diet plan wherein the foodstuffs contained in the diet plan are weighted to the dietary requirements of the individual.

iii) Issuing a dietary plan that provides an indicaiion of the proportions of fats, carbohydrates and proteins that are appropriate for an individual.

16. A diet for an individual formulated according to the method of Claim 15.

17. A method according to any of Claims 1 to 15, wherein the said algorithm is embodied in a computer program.

18. Apparatus for performing the method of Claim 17, including a computer comprising i) data input means; ii) data storage means; iii) data processing means; iv) and a display means wherein the data processing means processes data input via the data input means according to the algorithm, and wherein the computer program associates dietary requirement informaiion with the final score generated by the algorithm.

19. Apparatus according to Claim 18, wherein the algorithm compares the final score with pre-defined ranges of scores stored in the data storage means, each range being assigned one of three classifications of dietary requirement, and wherein the algorithm generates a result defining the classification of dietary requirement of the individual

20. Apparatus according to Claim 19, wherein the algorithm matches the classification of dietary requirements with dietary inkrmation and displays the said dietary information to the individual.

21. Apparatus according to any of Claims 18 to 20, wherein the computer may comprise an internet site running one part of the said computer program and a remote personal computer running another part of the said computer program.