Menu Optimization for Assisted Living Facilities

Abstract

The percentage of the US population who live in assisted living facilities is increasing steadily. In many cases, seniors solely rely on meals served in these facilities to meet their nutritional needs. Research shows that most assisted-living elderly residents have deficiencies of several key macro- and micronutrients and an excessive intake of sodium, fat, cholesterol, and saturated fat, considering their age group. This paper focuses on designing healthy menus for assisted living facilities under multiple objectives and complex nutritional constraints. The proposed system considers various factors in the construction of menus, including the USDA healthy eating guidelines, chefs’ choices and experiences, diversity of menu items, cost, and residents' preferences with different dietary requirements or diet patterns. The paper's main contribution to earlier work is to include people's behaviors while selecting menu items so that resulting menus can better reflect what might happen when implemented and to increase the feeling of autonomy.