Main Features

The main features of "Microdiet" include:

General

Microdiet is very user friendly.

On-screen help is available at all points in the program.

The database

An extensive and flexible database of foods and nutrients is provided.

The UK McCance and Widdowson data sets together with American and Italian data sets are supplied with the software. Click here for details.

The database can be modified by the user. Nutrient values can be edited and extra foods can be added. Assistance is provided when entering nutrients from a food label.

A recipe can be converted to a single database food.

Up to 150 nutrient values are available for each food. The user can choose a smaller subset of up to 28 nutrients for display and can also choose the order in which nutrients are presented.

Five common units of weight and two or more portion sizes are available for every food. The user can easily add others.

Tables of recommended daily nutrient intakes are provided for comparison with nutrient totals.

Facilities are provided to allow you to backup and restore your database.

You can find and list foods on the database that are high or low in specified nutrients or that satisfy several nutrient targets.

Foods can be imported from another user and added to your database.

A client file is provided which allows you to save information for your clients. Body Mass Index (BMI) is calculated automatically when height and weight are input.

Creating a food list

Foods can be selected from the database by name, part of a name or food code.

Search files can be limited to a subset, e.g. McCance and Widdowson 6th Summary edition foods only.

Foods on the list can be allocated to up to 7 named meals on up to 7 days.

If required, quantities of foods with the same food code listed separately can be combined into one entry on the list.

A food on the list can be exchanged for another food on the database.

Lists of foods can be saved for future use.

Meal names and extra nutrient names can be edited.

The spreadsheet of foods and nutrients or nutrient subset can be exported to a text file for use with other packages such as Microsoft Excel.

Analysis

The software calculates nutrient totals and allows foods to be evaluated in a variety of ways.

On the analysis page you can toggle easily between all nutrients and your selected subset.

Nutrient totals can be compared with a selected set of dietary reference values.

Any nutrient total can be examined to determine the contribution of each food on the list. The results can be listed in descending order of contribution or ordered by food group.

Nutrient totals and pie charts showing energy breakdown are available for individual meals and days.

There is an option to display nutrients in 100g of the food list or some other selected amount.

To satisfy the requirements of Quantitative Ingredient Declarations (QUID), the labeling section includes the food list in weight order and an entry for each food as a percentage of total weight. An option is provided to allow for weight lost in cooking.

A statistics module compares sets of nutrient totals, e.g. for different clients or different days, and finds the range, mean, standard deviation and coefficient of variation. The spreadsheet of nutrient totals can be exported to a text file for use with other packages such as Microsoft Excel or SPSS.

For the adventurous, an optimisation section is provided for modification of a diet to satisfy specified nutrient requirements and constraints, taking into account personal food preferences. The results are sometimes surprising as well as informative. The optimisation theory can also be used to explore the best foods to add to the diet.

Report

An automated report can be created. The report can contain food list and analyses and may include a variety of charts and tables selected by the user. The resulting rich text format file can be edited and printed or saved and opened in a word processor such as Microsoft Word.

A personalised report header can be created with your own or your organisation details which is then automatically applied at the top of all your reports.

A spreadsheet with nutrient totals for meals and days can be automatically included in the report.