National age-specific food baskets for a healthy, sustainable, affordable, and inclusive global dietary transition

National age-specific food baskets for a healthy, sustainable, affordable, and inclusive global dietary transition | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article National age-specific food baskets for a healthy, sustainable, affordable, and inclusive global dietary transition Zhen Wang, Zhongci Deng, Yuanchao Hu, Pan He, Brett Bryan This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5605171/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Dietary transitions face substantial economic and cultural barriers, with the absence of age-specific nutritional guidelines further impeding progress. Designing diets that are healthy and sustainable, while being affordable, culturally inclusive, and appropriate for specific age groups and countries, remains a significant challenge. Here, we use constrained nonlinear optimization models and fine-grained national age-specific intake data to design targeted food baskets that address the aforementioned challenges associated with global dietary transitions. We demonstrate that, while substantial structural changes in diets (2.98 – 3.40x) would be necessary for most countries, these national age-specific food baskets—considering preferences and economic conditions—can ensure that all age groups can meet nutritional needs and reduce diet-related disease risk, with little or no increase in food expenditure. Our research offers innovative recommendations for healthy, sustainable, affordable, and inclusive global dietary transitions across different countries and age groups, offering a feasible pathway forward for the global food system. Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences/Sustainability Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences/Environmental impact Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files Supplementarydata.xlsx supplementary data Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5605171","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":400134575,"identity":"043195f3-e585-455f-897a-69f6f8913577","order_by":0,"name":"Zhen 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