Differences in the socioeconomic profile may influences healthy food choices, particularly among individuals with low socioeconomic status. Thus, high-energy dense foods become the preferences compared to high nutritional content foods due to their cheaper price. The present study aims to develop healthy and palatable diet at the minimum cost based on Malaysian Dietary Guidelines 2010 and Recommended Nutrient Intake 2005 via linear programming. A total of 96 female adults from low socioeconomic families in Johor, South East Malaysia have been recruited for the present study. Anthropometric measurement; weight and height, socio-demographic information and 3-days food record have been collected from the subjects. In addition, data on food prices have also been collected. Then, a linear programming model has been developed to select the cheapest food combinations that could fulfil all the nutritional recommendations and palatable constraints in order to capture common dietary habit of the locals. Subsequently, healthy seven-days menus have been created using the optimal food servings estimated from the linear programming model. Dietary data have shown that the average energy intake among low-income adult women (1871 � 317 kcal/day) is less than the nutrient recommendation. Thus, from the linear programming analysis, the minimum food cost has been estimated at RM6.55 (2.15 USD) for the total energy intake of 2000 kcal per day for a female adult which meets the recommendation of MDG 2010 and RNI 2005. In conclusion, linear programming may be a useful tool to develop healthy and palatable diets at a minimal cost in managing dietary problems among low socioeconomic groups where food expenditure becomes an important restraining factor. Eventually, low socioeconomics female adults would improve their nutritional intake by making wiser food choices to meet all the nutritional requirements, which lead to healthier life.

Background: Poor dietary habits have been identified as one of the cancer risks factors in various epidemiological studies. Consumption of healthy and balance diet is crucial to reduce cancer risk. Cancer prevention food plan should consist of all the right amounts of macronutrients and micronutrients. Although dietary habits could be changed, affordability of healthy foods has been a major concern, as the price of healthy foods are more expensive the unhealthy counterparts. Methods: Therefore, using linear programming, this study is aimed to develop a healthy and balanced menu with minimal cost in accordance to individual needs that could in return help to prevent cancer. A cross sectional study involving 100 adults from a local university in Kuala Lumpur was conducted in 3 phases. The first phase is the data collection for the subjects, which includes their socio demographic, anthropometry and diet recall. The second phase was the creation of a balanced diet model at a minimum cost. The third and final phase was the finalization of the cancer prevention menu. Optimal and balanced menus were produced based on respective guidelines of WCRF/AICR (World Cancer Research Fund/ American Institute for Cancer Research) 2007, MDG (Malaysian Dietary Guidelines) 2010 and RNI (Recommended Nutrient Intake) 2017, with minimum cost. Results: Based on the diet recall, most of subjects did not achieve the recommended micronutrient intake for fiber, calcium, potassium, iron, B12, folate, vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin K, and beta-carotene. While, the intake of sugar (51 +- 19.8 g), (13% +- 2%) and sodium (2585 +- 544 g) was more than recommended. From the optimization model, three menus, which met the dietary guidelines for cancer prevention by WCRF/AICR 2007, MDG 2010 and RNI 2017, with minimum cost of RM7.8, RM9.2 and RM9.7 per day were created. Conclusion: Linear programming can be used to translate nutritional requirements based on selected Dietary Guidelines to achieve a healthy, well-balanced menu for cancer prevention at minimal cost. Furthermore, the models could help to shape consumer food choice decision to prevent cancer especially for those in low income group where high cost for health food has been the main deterrent for healthy eating.

Optimization model is introduced to become one of the decision making tools in investment. Hence, it is always a big challenge for investors to select the best model that could fulfill their goal in investment with respect to risk and return. In this paper we aims to discuss and compare the portfolio allocation and performance generated by quadratic and linear portfolio optimization models namely of Markowitz and Maximin model respectively. The application of these models has been proven to be significant and popular among others. However transaction cost has been debated as one of the important aspects that should be considered for portfolio reallocation as portfolio return could be significantly reduced when transaction cost is taken into consideration. Therefore, recognizing the importance to consider transaction cost value when calculating portfolio' return, we formulate this paper by using data from Shariah compliant securities listed in Bursa Malaysia. It is expected that, results from this paper will effectively justify the advantage of one model to another and shed some lights in quest to find the best decision making tools in investment for individual investors. � 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.