Abstract
Objectives: Maintaining a balanced diet and thus health is crucial for adolescents, and the first step for balanced diet practice is meal planning. Adolescents, however, find it difficult to plan their meals. This study thus was set out to design an easier way of planning meals for adolescent girls. Methods: A dish-based target pattern for adolescent girls was tabulated, and validity of this was examined. Meal plan applying a dish-based target pattern was prepared by 150 female middle school students, and nutritional adequacies of those meal plans were examined. Validity and adequacy were tested by energy content, energy contribution ratio, nutrient adequacy ratio (NAR), probability of nutrient inadequacy, index of nutritional quality (INQ) calculation. Results: A dish-based target pattern with 11 dish groups was validated for nutritional adequacy. Though the NAR of calcium was 0.96, the INQ of calcium was 1.00. The average energy supply from the meal plans was 2,379 kcal, higher than the estimated energy requirement of a female middle school student, but the energy contribution ratio of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats were all adequate according to the acceptable macronutrient distribution range (AMDR). NAR of all nutrients examined were 1.0, except for calcium. The NAR and INQ of calcium were 0.87 and 0.75, respectively, and the meal plans at risk for calcium inadequacy was 19.30%. Conclusions: A dish-based target pattern proposed for adolescent girls was valid, but the meal plan prepared by female middle school students using this approach was high in energy and low in calcium supply. To cut down the energy supply from the meal plan, it is necessary to recommend dishes low in fat and use low fat cooking methods. To increase the calcium supply, it is important to recommend seaweed and legume group dishes with higher Ca INQ food items.
