Evaluating and benchmarking nutritional supplement providers using MCDM modeling approach

What is it about?

To determine the adequacy and balance of nutritional supplements for children, a high level of assessment and ranking of available Nutritional Supplement Providers (NSPs) is needed. Inherently, the evaluation of nutritional supplements is complex because it involves (1) different criteria, (2) trade-offs in preferences, and (3) the development of models that require data to be handled in a standardized manner. This study aims to develop a robust decision-making framework for assessing and benchmarking NSPs for children, thereby supporting informed choices in pediatric dietary supplementation. The methodology is developed in three phases. Phase 1: Identifying and collecting the dataset. Phase 2: Develop a decision matrix that includes 28 nutritional criteria, following eight NSPs as alternatives. Phase 3: Integration of mathematical process of 2-Tuple Linguistic q-Rung Picture Fuzzy Level-Based Weight Assessment (2TLq-RPF-LBWA), which offers a rigorous evaluation of the nutritional information for the children’s dietary supplements referred to in this study as Nutritional Information for Kids' Dietary Supplements (NIKDSs), and the Additively Ratio Assessment (ARAS) method helps in benchmarking the NSPs. The results from the 2TLq-RPF-LBWA indicated that the most highly weighted nutrients were 'vitamin D' (0.0545), 'iron' (0.0521), 'vitamin B12' (0.0500), and 'vitamin B9' (folic acid) (0.0480), which were the most highly weighted nutrients, whereas 'chromium' had the lowest weight (0.0245). ARAS benchmarking analysis indicated that "Centrum Kids Chewable Multivitamins" had a rating of 0.7626, ranking it in the top position. The "KINDER Multivitamin Syrup" was second, with a rating of 0.2893; "Maddovit Junior" was third, with a rating of 0.2599; and "OLIGOVIT Syrup" was rated lowest, with a rating of 0.0575. To verify the rigor of the results, three sensitivity analysis scenarios were developed, confirming that the methodology was robust and improved decision-making related to the development of safer, effective vitamin and mineral supplements for children. Overall, this study provides valuable benchmarking information to help parents, professionals, and manufacturers select suitable nutritional supplements for children.

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Photo by Kayla Maurais on Unsplash

Photo by Kayla Maurais on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This study provides valuable benchmarking information to help parents, professionals, and manufacturers select suitable nutritional supplements for children.