Menu scheduling for high blood pressure patient with optimization method through Integer Programming

Abstract

High blood pressure or hypertension is a global public health issue. High blood pressure can lead to cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and others. The diet problem of high blood pressure patients has always been concerned by the field of operational research. Some previous and recent research have proposed that diet plays an important role in affecting the condition of high blood pressure. A balanced diet will provide essential nutrients for high blood pressure patients that help to control and lower blood pressure. The purpose of this study is to construct a diet menu that meet the nutritional requirements of high blood pressure patient as well as minimize the food cost by developing a mathematical model using linear and integer programming approaches. The model of this study involved 10 type of food groups with 413 types of food variables based on the Malaysian recipes. The findings show that integer programming is a good alternative for linear programming. Integer programming leads to an optimal and effective solutions for the diet problem of high blood pressure patients.