Analyzing the Nutritional Composition of Traditional Omani Foods: A Recipe Calculation Approach

Background: Traditional foods always reflect the particular nation’s heritage and their chemical compositions are highly needed for accurate dietary assessment of the population as they are considered the key elements for dietary patterns. Oman lacks a representative food composition database for traditional foods, and their full nutrient profile can possibly be calculated from their raw ingredients via the recipe calculation method. Objectives: The current study is aimed to calculate the full nutrient profile of traditional Omani foods and composite dishes via the recipe calculation method. Methods: A model system was developed to calculate the nutrient profile of the cooked traditional foods based on the corresponding raw foods implemented in three steps as follows: recipe recording, applying appropriate nutrient retention factors at the ingredient level, and finally recipe calculation with applying the yield factor at the recipe level. Results: The developed system helped to generate the nutrient profile and database for 108 different traditional foods with associated 60 nutrients using a recipe calculation procedure. The sum of proximate was falling within the acceptable range of 95–105 g/100 g edible portion (EP). The results of calculated nutrient values are in agreement with earlier published findings, which makes the recipe calculation an effective alternative to laboratory analysis, especially in situations where resources are scarce. This approach demonstrates the capability to generate nutrient data for more recipes without relying on complex chemical analysis. Conclusion: The developed database might help to accurately assess the food intake of the Omani population and can be incorporated into an electronic dietary assessment tool.