An integer programming approach for optimizing street food snack nutrient intake among college students

Abstract

Nutrition plays a very important role in the performance of students in school. It is defined as the provision of the materials necessary (in the form of food) to support life. It has been shown that there is a positive effect to the cognitive (arithmetic reasoning, reading, digital span recall, and attention) performance of the students whenever students eat nutritious food in their late afternoon snacks. Hence it is important to pay attention to the snacks that they eat for them to excel in their different learning fields.

Students are often faced with difficulty in choosing the right, that is, nutritious food. Moreover, due to their limited snack allowance, most students prefer to eat street foods since they are considered to be more filling yet cheap. This study aims to provide a guide to college students for deciding which street food to snack on so that optimal nutrient is obtained from their snacks.

In this study, the top ten most popular street food snacks in Cagayan de Oro City were considered. Mathematical models for optimizing nutrient intake of college students were formulated and solved. Results of the study provide various snack menus for students to choose from so that the recommended nutrient intake is optimized given their limited budget.