Patent ID: 7090638

Claim:
A method of creating an optimized dietary menu for an individual using a computer having a processor, said method comprising the steps of: receiving personal characteristics and a desired physiological change rate from the individual; generating a set of dietary constraints based upon said personal characteristics using the processor, said desired physiological change rate, and nutritional profile constraints, wherein said set of dietary constraints comprises a system of inequalities; receiving palatability scores for a plurality of food items, wherein each palatability score defines the palatability to the individual of the corresponding food item; generating the optimized dietary menu comprising a set of food items selected from said plurality of food items using the processor, wherein said set of food items is selected so as to satisfy said system of inequalities and maximize a resultant palatability score associated with said set of food items; and outputting said optimized dietary menu, wherein said system of inequalities defines a relationship between said selected food items and one or more nutritional constraints, and wherein said step of generating the optimized dietary menu includes determining a quantity for each selected food item and maximizing an optimization function, wherein the optimization function comprises a sum of terms, and wherein each term comprises the product of the quantity and the palatability score associated with one of said selected food items, and wherein the result of said sum of terms comprises said resultant palatability score.