Computer-selected exchange lists approximations for recipes.

A computer program has been developed to aid dietitians and patients in determining the best Exchange Lists for Meal Planning representation for a serving of a recipe. Applying an optimization program to information obtained from a nutrient data base and a recipe file results in a printout of the five best Exchange Lists representations and the macronutrient and caloric content of the recipe serving compared with the Exchange Lists approximate nutrient values for each of the "best fit" solutions. The nutritional analysis of one serving of the recipe (including 26 nutrients), as well as a breakdown by recipe ingredients, is also provided. Analysis of a 10-item recipe takes about 17 minutes of coding, entry, and evaluation time and 6 seconds of mainframe computer time. This program has been used to compute Exchange Lists representations for the recipes in Vol. II of The American Diabetes Association/The American Dietetic Association Family Cookbook.