Food Determinants

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A THEORTICAL REVIEW OF DETERMINANTS OF FOOD CHOICE T.Thegaleesan* and Dr. R.Renganathan** Introduction Food is vital for health and well beings of an individual. Life cannot exist without food and it is for this reason every living organism striving more to obtain the food requirements. It is not only satisfies the hungry, but also provide nutrients to our body viz., proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals and water, thereby helps to growth, and maintenance, repair of tissues, reproduction work and protection against diseases. A large variety of food materials are available to us, which include in our daily diet for taste. In order to ensure our body, all the essential nutrients should in sufficient quantity for which, adequate…show more content…
But, what we choose to eat is not determined solely by physiological or nutritional needs. Some of the other factors that influence food choice include: Biological determinants such as (hunger, appetite, and taste) Economic determinants such as (cost, income, availability) Physical determinants such as (access, education, skills (e.g. cooking) and time) Social determinants such as (culture, family, peers and meal patterns) and the Psychological determinants such as (mood, stress and guilt Attitudes, beliefs and knowledge). Thus the complexity of food choice is obvious, and the food choice factors also vary according to life style and the power of factor will vary from one individual to another individual. Thus, one type of intervention to modify food choice behavior will not suit all population groups. Rather, interventions needed towards different groups of the population with consideration to the many factors influencing their decisions on food…show more content…
Particularly low income groups have a greater tendency to consume unbalanced diets and therefore low fruits and vegetable. The relationships between low socio-economic status and poor health is complicated and is influenced by gender, age, culture, environment, social networks, individual lifestyle and health behavior. This leads to both under-nutrition (micro-nutrients deficiency) and (over energy consumption resulting overweight and obesity). These disadvantages also develop chronic diseases at an earlier age compared with high socio-economic groups. In 1994-1996 a Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals conducted by the U.S Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS) in which the results suggest that the disease burden associated with obesity in the population may be substantial. This burden increases with increasing severity of obesity. And this finding supports the current opinion that, although the nature of obesity-related health risks is similar in all populations, the specific level of risk associated with a given level of obesity and it may be depending on different gender, race and socioeconomic
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