Food choice – focussing on health, nutrition education, organic foods, body image, fasting and socio-economic class

Citation

Blades, M. (2012), "Food choice – focussing on health, nutrition education, organic foods, body image, fasting and socio-economic class", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 42 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2012.01742caa.001

Food choice – focussing on health, nutrition education, organic foods, body image, fasting and socio-economic class

Article Type: Editorial From: Nutrition & Food Science, Volume 42, Issue 3

The subject of food choice is really suited to Nutrition & Food Science as it is such a wide ranging journal with papers from various disciplines.

Food choice is how people select the food they eat. This is a fascinating subject as it is absolutely fundamental to diet. The topic is the subject of research in nutrition, food science, psychology, anthropology, agriculture, food safety and other branches of the natural and social sciences. It is also of great practical interest to the food industry and especially its marketing endeavors to encourage people to purchase foods. It is also obviously of interest to those involved in health as it is obviously vital to undertand whay people slect the foods they do. As a registered dietitian an understanding of factors affecting food choice can be vital in assiting people to make changes to their diet to assit their health.

Food choice is an interdisciplinary topic, it comprises psychological and sociological aspects (including food politics and phenomena such as vegetarianism or religious dietary laws), economic issues (for instance, how food prices or marketing campaigns influence choice) and life science aspects (such as the study ofthe organoleptic qualities of food). Emotional factors come into play with such issues as stress and addictions and “comfort eating”.

This food science contains a wonderful variety of papers on the topic of food choice and various factors that affect it:

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  Body image dissatisfaction among food related degree students. This is an interesting examination of the body image dissatisfaction of students. Various factors have already been examined in this topic with many females not happy with their body image. Nowadays this dissatisfaction is also being seen increasingly in males with the emphasis on the “six pack” physique being promoted in the media.

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  Knowledge, attitudes and practices on CHD in businessmen and patients. This is a fascinating study on the effects of coronary heart disease on dietary practices.

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  Effect of an intervention in the workplace food environment shows that simple steps can be made in workplace canteens to improve the diet. Having worked in this area with local company canteens it is extremely rewarding to see people change their eating habits when presented with tasty healthier food choices.

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  Socio-economic class effects nutritional status but not food habit offers an insight into this interesting topic of socio-economic class and eating habits.

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  Impact of nutrition education on the nutritional status of adolescents from Libya is an important paper. During adolescence all sorts of factors influence food choice (as anyone who has walked past a secondary school at the end of the day and watched many of the young people stream into the nearest sweet shop will agree) so the impact of nutritional education provides thought provoking information.

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  Steps towards an organic professional kitchen from Finland show an innovative kitchen. Many people choose to eat organic foods for ethical and environmental reasons and while some people have turned away from organic food due to economic reasons large numbers have not. Schools, nurseries and restaurants serving organic food are also maintaining popularity.

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  Healthy diets for preventing and delaying bone loss provide interesting information on particularly calcium. People are increasingly focussed on their health and preventing future problems. Some, in an attempt to prevent future problems, take excessive amounts of supplements of calcium and this paper explains the dangers plus also the call for further research.

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  Glycaemic response to amylopectin rich starch in common fasting foods of India. Knowledge of the glycaemic index (GI) has caused some groups to choose foods with a lower GI. Fasting is common in certain religious groups especially in India. This paper combines information on both the GI and fasting both of which have influence on food choice.

Mabel Blades