Food choice and intake: the human factor

Abstract

Human perceptions and selection of food are derived from the prevailing and momentary food, agro-economic and cultural environment, cognitive and biological characteristics of individuals, and the real and perceived intrinsic and extrinsic attributes of foods themselves. The range of items typically chosen and consumed within a given population is largely determined by interaction of the external environmental context with guiding sets of implicit and explicit social and psychobiological 'rules'. Within the rather broad limits of biology, individual food choices and intake behaviours relate to and reflect aspects of food availability, existing habitual behaviours, learning mechanisms, and individual beliefs and expectations. Many of the relevant features of these variables are uniquely human, together determining what is 'food', when, how, by and with whom it is chosen and eaten, and in what quantities. They also provide the opportunities for individuals to establish and maintain a relatively stable set of culturally and biologically determined affective responses ('likes') and intake behaviours. Understanding of the potential contribution of these influences under different conditions can serve to explain many of the observed characteristics of human eating, and highlight potential avenues for intervention.

The role of attitudes, intentions and habit in predicting actual consumption of fat containing foods in Italy

“…Also, it is possible that, by adopting a different de®nition, the in¯u-ence of habit could change its importance in the prediction models (Tuorila & Pangborn, 1988b). However, what the Attitudes, habit and actual consumption A Saba et al subjects perceive as habitual behaviour could be the result of the interaction of other factors in¯uencing the food selection (Mela, 1999). Thus, the de®nition of a measure of habit is so complex that it requires further attention in future research.…”

“…It needs to be borne in mind that human selection of food is derived from the prevailing food, agro-economic and cultural environment, cognitive and biological characteristics of individuals, and the intrinsic and extrinsic attributes of foods themselves (Shepherd, 1990;Mela, 1999). Factors related to the food, such as food appearance, and to external environmental in¯uences, such as cultural and religious factors, act Figure 2 Means of ratings of beliefs and attitudes for subjects divided into three clusters.…”

Changing foodscapes 1980–2000, using the ASH30 Study

“…Most of the models of food choice indicate that both food choice and health behaviours are influenced by biological, demographic, social/cultural and environmental considerations as well as food-related government policies (Booth, Sallis et al 2001) and economic factors (Mela 1999). An emerging body of literature has suggested environmental factors can influence individuals' dietary behaviour (Giskes, Kamphuis et al 2007).…”

Isolation of Novel Para-Pentyl Phenyl Benzoate From Mondia WHITEI.(HOOK.F.) Skeels (Periplocaceae), Its Structure, Synthesis and Neuropharmacological Evaluation

“…In every traditional society, people are faced with several herbal options for food and ailments. The choices of these herbs and the consumption pattern of people evolve over time and are affected by demographic factors (Vabo and Hansen, 2014) as well as societal and cultural development of the people (Drewnowski, 1997;Mela, 1999;Palojoki and TuomiGrohn, 2001; Wright et al, 2001; Risvik et al, 2006). A very important consideration about the consumption pattern of herbs in a society is the evaluation of how safe the herbs are and how healthy the consumption pattern is.…”