Font Size: 

Adolescents are a vulnerable group which need greater nutrient compare with young child and adult. The aim of the study was to evaluate the dietary pattern and identify the problem nutrient using linear programming (LP) among school adolescents. Dietary data was assessed by 24-h dietary recall in cross –sectional survey of 15-18 years old school adolescents (N= 182, male=67, female=115). LP model parameter was derived from these dietary data, including food list, median serving, and frequency consumed. The problem nutrients of each gender were resulted from this LP analysis using Optifood. Among  345 foods derived from recall, 171 foods were inputted into LP model. The most commonly consumed foods were white rice (ranged: 95.7%-98.5% of each gender), vegetable oil (87%-97%), chicken meat (47%-47.8%), followed by tofu, soybean tempeh, and chicken egg.  The frequency consumed of each food were varied, range from 0 – 28 times per week. Most of  food groups were not significantly different, except added fat, fruits, and starchy plants. The LP analysis showed that the existing pattern of male students could not achieve the Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI) for calcium (75.8% of RNI) and folate (51.8% of RNI) which categorized as absolute problem nutrients. While calcium (58.9% of RNI), folate (77.4% of RNI), and iron (86.7% of RNI) were found among female. In conclusion, both students are prone to have problem nutrients, which are calcium and folate. Female students also identified having problem nutrient of iron based on their existing dietary pattern.