Social class differences in food consumption refers to how the quantity and quality of food varies according to a person's social status or position in the social hierarchy [ citation needed ]. Various disciplines, including social, psychological, nutritional, and public health sciences, have examined this topic. Social class can be examined according to defining factors — education, income, or occupational status — or subjective components, like perceived rank in society.
Eating behavior is a highly affiliative act, [1] thus the food one eats is closely tied with one's social class throughout history. [2] In contemporary Western society, social class differences in food consumption follow a general pattern. Upper class groups consume foods that signify exclusivity and access to rare goods; [2] [3] while lower class groups, on the other hand, consume foods that are readily available.
Like any luxury product, some foods denote a sense of class and distinction. [4] According to French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, the food consumed by the upper classes reflect "tastes of refinement", [5] and its perceived value in society. [5] Historically, these were highly exclusive food items, [4] which were marked by high demand and low supply. [2] [3] [6] [7]
One clear illustration of this phenomenon is the introduction of spices in European diet. [2] [3] [6] [7] In medieval Western Europe, the amount of meat consumed distinguished the upper from the lower classes, as only upper class groups could afford to eat meat in large quantities. [6] The diet of lower class groups, who had little access to meat, mostly consisted of grains (e.g., barley and rye) and vegetables (e.g. cabbage and carrots). [8] Spices, such as black pepper, [9] were introduced as meat seasoning—albeit in small quantities— following initial contact with Asia. The high cost of transporting these spices limited access to the rich; thus, both the amount and type of meat consumed became a signal of status.
Omnivorism, a term typically reserved for those who consume a non-restricted variety of food products, [10] may also refer to the consumption of rare or foreign foods. [3] [2] Consuming unfamiliar foods, especially foods from different cultures, signifies a sense of worldliness that can only be obtained through social and economic capital. [3] [2] There is some documented evidence for this claim: Upper class groups, relative to lower class groups, were more likely to endorse eating foods that were outside of their native culture [11] [12] [13] and show a preoccupation for the perceived authenticity of foreign cuisine, [14] preferring dine-in establishments over fast food chains. [15]
Finally, the nutritional quality of Western upper class diets is typically better than those of lower class diets. Several studies have found that with increased education and income, diet quality improved. Even subjective measures of social status, such as the MacArthur Subjective Social Status Scale, [16] exert a similar effect on eating behavior among minority groups. Those who see themselves as having a higher position in society were more likely to report better health. [17]
Greater income plays an important role in accessing healthy foods. This is especially true in the United States compared to other high-income countries. [18] According to a 2023 survey, 61.5% of respondents consider healthy food to be a luxury. [19] Most health food stores and supermarkets, which carry fresh produce, are more readily available in high-income areas compared to low-income areas. [20] Turrell and colleagues [21] noted that income, as opposed to education and occupational status, was the only significant indicator of low-income groups purchasing foods that met recommended dietary guidelines. Said differently, it was money—not more years of education nor the prestige of one's job— that allowed low-income groups to achieve a healthy diet.
A significant body of evidence shows how healthy foods cost more than unhealthy foods. [22] [23] Nevertheless, scholars have not been able to identify specific micronutrients (i.e., vitamins, minerals) and macronutrients (i.e., carbohydrates, fat) that consistently contribute to the inflated price of a healthy diet. [24] [25] [26] One analysis of food expenditure in the United States demonstrated that the relationship between the price of a food item and its nutritional quality varied according to how the price of food was measured. The price of vegetables, for example, cost nearly twice as much when measured as “price per 100 calories” than when it was measured as “price per edible gram” or “price average portion” (roughly $3.75/100 calories vs. $1.60 and $1.40, respectively). [27] Others have noted that the price of certain fruits and vegetables are dropping at the same rate as popular snack foods, such as chips and cookies. [28]
Higher education is related to a better diet and is thought to improve eating behaviors by increasing susceptibility to health messages. [29] Nutritional literacy and numeracy refers to the ability to understand and use nutrition labels to guide eating behaviors. Higher social class groups report using nutrition labels at a greater rate than low social class groups, [30] [31] but in general, rates of nutrition label use is low. It estimated that only a third of Americans use nutrition labels. [31] Importantly, a vast majority of published studies evaluating the effects of nutrition label use and food consumption did not include other racial/ethnic minorities in their samples, nor did the studies meet the American Dietetic Association standard of reporting. [32] Thus, the extent to which nutrition label use affects the American population, at large, remains in question.
The defining characteristics of middle class diets are less obvious than those of high and low class groups. For one, most researchers struggle to define "middle class". Is it solely a socioeconomic position (i.e., median income, distance from the federal poverty level) or is it a psychological state of mind (i.e., self-perception and culture)? [33] Likewise, middle class diets are subject to the same ambiguity.
The middle class are the biggest consumers of fast food in the United States. [34] Yet, nutritional quality of middle class diets closely mirrors those of the upper classes. More importantly, the nutritional quality of the middle and upper classes is expected to significantly diverge from the lower classes over time. [35]
One way to look at middle class diets is that it reflects an aspirational pursuit of obtaining a higher social standing. Sociological theorist, Gabriel Tarde, suggested that "inferior" classes seek to mimic the culture of the "superior" classes. [36] This is becoming more apparent as conspicuous consumption is on the decline. [37] According to sociologist, Thorstein Veblen, conspicuous consumption is the audacious display of wealth to mark one's social standing. [38] Rapid globalization and online markets have made once-exclusive consumer goods accessible to the middle class American; and, as a result, upper classes have turned away from ostentatious indicators of wealth. [37] Instead, the upper classes have invested in inconspicuous forms of consumption, such as advanced education. [39]
Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, author of The Sum of Small Things: A Theory of the Aspirational Class, suggests that the consumption of organic foods is one way that both the upper and the middle classes engage in inconspicuous consumption. [40] Buying and eating organic foods not only requires a certain degree of expendable money, [41] but it also suggests that the middle class consumer possesses some nutritional knowledge and the ability to access the same grocery markets as the rich. [40] Others note that the middle class also engages in the same upper class practices of eating out and eating foreign foods to display their cultural capital. [42]
In the United States, one way of defining low social class is reporting an income level lower than the federal poverty threshold. According to the U.S. Federal Poverty Guidelines, a family of four (i.e., two adults and two children under 18) that earns less than $25,750 is considered living below the federal poverty line as of 2019. [43] About 38.1 million Americans live in poverty. [44] However, some argue that this might be an underestimation as the current guidelines do not account for other expenses, such as childcare, transportation, tax, or medical bills. [45]
Nevertheless, having less income requires families to choose generally unhealthy foods to meet basic needs. [46] Low income families do not regularly meet the required daily servings of nutrient-rich foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, [47] and this issue spans far beyond the United States. Globally, low income is related to poor micronutrient intake. [48]
In the US, the United States Department of Agriculture developed a set of guidelines designed to help all Americans meet their nutritional needs. In particular, the Thrifty Food Plan was designed to help low-income groups identify time-efficient, [49] budget-friendly foods [28] that met nutritional standards. Additionally, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formally the Food Stamp Act of 1977, [50] is a government-funded program that provides low-income Americans with subsidies to purchase foods. [51]
Fatty meats, potatoes, pasta, canned corn, rice and cereal are among the most common foods purchased by many low income families. [46] About 50% of low-income U.S. adults report eating unhealthy or expired foods, [52] and among food bank patrons, the most requested items are dairy products, fruits and vegetables, and lean meat. [53]
Food insecurity refers to economic or social conditions that contribute to inconsistent or inadequate access to food. [54] Roughly 43 million American households are impacted by food insecurity [55] and this insecurity disproportionately affects low-income, racial/ethnic minority, and single parent households. [55]
Food insecurity plays a large role in the formation of diets and diet quality. [56] In urban areas, vast income inequality makes purchasing healthy foods more difficult for low-income groups, especially among racial minorities. [57] In rural areas, low-income groups have less access to healthy foods than high income groups. [57] These so-called "food deserts" lack adequate grocery stores or markets that provide fresh and nutritious foods. [58] Some note that food deserts also constitute regions where health foods are available but are expensive or inconsistently stocked. [59] [60] [18] On the other hand, another issue facing many low-income communities is the growing prevalence of fast food restaurants, which pose major health risks. [61] [62]
Apart from taste, which is valued among all socioeconomic groups' food preferences, low-income groups prioritized the cost, convenience, and familiarity of their meals. [63] On average, food insecurity and low income is associated with overeating high-calorie snack foods and carbohydrates [64] and under-eating fruits and vegetables. [56] [65] One explanation for the discrepancy is a lack of time. Preparing and cooking raw fruits and vegetables requires more time than purchasing ready-made meals and snacks. This distinction is particularly important among those who have less expendable time, like single working mothers, [66] [67] who make up 10% of food insecure households. [55] A study by the United States Department of Agriculture concluded that low income, full-time working women spend around 40 minutes a day preparing and cooking meals, compared to non-working women who spend around 70 minutes per day. [68]
Considering that fast food chains are more prevalent among low-income areas than among middle- and high-income areas, [62] consuming ready-made food allows time-strained individuals to meet both work and household demands. In fact, low-income households do spend more money on fast food as a result of their time constraints: Households that make less than $50,000 per year spend nearly 50% of their food expenditure on “foods away from home”, [69] or ready-to-eat foods that are available through public spaces (e.g., such as vending machines, restaurants, or schools). Generally, "foods away from home" are of lower nutritional quality than foods prepared at home. [70]
However, low-income groups are not the only consumers of unhealthy foods. A report from the United States Department of Agriculture demonstrated that foods consumed at fast food restaurants constituted about 15% of one's daily caloric intake for both high- and low-income groups. [71] Somewhat surprisingly, high-income groups actually consume more calories overall from “foods away from home” compared to low-income groups. This is accounted by differences in eating at dine-in restaurants, which are typically more expensive than fast food restaurants. [71]
A main critique of studies examining food insecurity is the emphasis on economic restraints. Others have argued for a reform to address the negative psychological impact of poverty and food insecurity. [72] The most common assessment of food insecurity in the United States, the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module, is unable to account for the behavioral strategies that one may undertake to avoid being food insecure, such as limiting portion sizes or borrowing money. [73] To address this gap, some have developed behavior-based measures of food insecurity. [74]
There is emerging evidence that the psychological experiences of poverty and low status can directly influence the foods that one eats. Stress-induced eating, [75] closely related to emotional eating, is quite common in the United States. One survey by the American Psychological Association found that nearly 40% of US adults reported overeating or eating unhealthily in response to stress. [76]
Many scholars believe that stress is a key mechanism in the relationship between low social class and poor eating behaviors. [77] [78] [79] In non-human models, animals that undergo subordination stress (e.g., attacks from a dominant animal in shared housing conditions) derive most of their caloric intake from fatty and sugary foods. [80] It is possible that stress-induced eating serves an evolutionary adaptive function: Such that, stress motivates low status animals to seek out resources, such as food, that are in possession of and limited by high status animals. Thus, under conditions of low status, high-calorie foods have the prospect of expanding an uncertain lifespan. [81]
Among humans, the evidence is a little less clear. Low status groups do have a poorer diet, and they do experience more stress compared to high status groups. On average, low status groups experience more daily life hassles, [82] negative life events, [83] and more workplace and family stressors. [84] Further, the average stress levels for low status groups tend to increase at a greater rate than their high status counterparts. [85] However, there is hardly any research to demonstrate how stress serves as a mechanism of poor eating behaviors among low-income groups, and leaves the phenomenon of stress-induced eating among low-income groups in question.[ citation needed ]
Food security is the availability of food in a country and the ability of individuals within that country (region) to access, afford, and source adequate foodstuff. The availability of food irrespective of class, gender or region is another element of food security. Similarly, household food security is considered to exist when all the members of a family, at all times, have access to enough food for an active, healthy life. Individuals who are food secure do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. Food insecurity, on the other hand, is defined as a situation of " limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways." Food security incorporates a measure of resilience to future disruption or unavailability of critical food supply due to various risk factors including droughts, shipping disruptions, fuel shortages, economic instability, and wars.
The Mediterranean diet is a diet inspired by the eating habits and traditional food typical of southern Spain, southern Italy, and Crete, and formulated in the early 1960s. It is distinct from Mediterranean cuisine, which covers the actual cuisines of the Mediterranean countries, and from the Atlantic diet of Northwestern Spain and Portugal. While inspired by a specific time and place, the "Mediterranean diet" was later refined based on the results of multiple scientific studies.
A plant-based diet is a diet consisting mostly or entirely of plant-based foods. Plant-based diets encompass a wide range of dietary patterns that contain low amounts of animal products and high amounts of fiber-rich plant products such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. They do not need to be vegan or vegetarian but are defined in terms of low frequency of animal food consumption.
A healthy diet is a diet that maintains or improves overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition: fluid, macronutrients such as protein, micronutrients such as vitamins, and adequate fibre and food energy.
The social determinants of health are the economic and social conditions that influence individual and group differences in health status. They are the health promoting factors found in one's living and working conditions, rather than individual risk factors that influence the risk or vulnerability for a disease or injury. The distribution of social determinants is often shaped by public policies that reflect prevailing political ideologies of the area.
A food desert is an area that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food. In contrast, an area with greater access to supermarkets and vegetable shops with fresh foods may be called a food oasis. The designation considers the type and the quality of food available to the population, in addition to the accessibility of the food through the size and the proximity of the food stores.
While genetic influences are important to understanding obesity, they cannot explain the current dramatic increase seen within specific countries or globally. It is accepted that calorie consumption in excess of calorie expenditure leads to obesity; however, what has caused shifts in these two factors on a global scale is much debated.
Nutrition education is a set of learning experiences designed to assist in healthy eating choices and other nutrition-related behavior. It includes any combination of educational strategies, accompanied by environmental supports, designed to facilitate voluntary adoption of food choices and other food and nutrition-related behaviors conducive to health and well-being. Nutrition education is delivered through multiple venues and involves activities at the individual, community, and policy levels. Nutrition Education also critically looks at issues such as food security, food literacy, and food sustainability.
Vegan nutrition refers to the nutritional and human health aspects of vegan diets. A well-planned, balanced vegan diet is suitable to meet all recommendations for nutrients in every stage of human life. Vegan diets tend to be higher in dietary fiber, magnesium, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, and phytochemicals; and lower in calories, saturated fat, iron, cholesterol, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, calcium, zinc, and vitamin B12.
Criticism of fast food includes claims of negative health effects, animal cruelty, cases of worker exploitation, children-targeted marketing and claims of cultural degradation via shifts in people's eating patterns away from traditional foods. Fast food chains have come under fire from consumer groups, such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a longtime fast food critic over issues such as caloric content, trans fats and portion sizes. Social scientists have highlighted how the prominence of fast food narratives in popular urban legends suggests that modern consumers have an ambivalent relationship with fast food, particularly in relation to children.
Hunger in the United States of America affects millions of Americans, including some who are middle class, or who are in households where all adults are in work. The United States produces far more food than it needs for domestic consumption—hunger within the U.S. is caused by some Americans having insufficient money to buy food for themselves or their families. Additional causes of hunger and food insecurity include neighborhood deprivation and agricultural policy. Hunger is addressed by a mix of public and private food aid provision. Public interventions include changes to agricultural policy, the construction of supermarkets in underserved neighborhoods, investment in transportation infrastructure, and the development of community gardens. Private aid is provided by food pantries, soup kitchens, food banks, and food rescue organizations.
Nutrition psychology (NP) is the psychological study of the relationship between dietary intake and different aspects of psychological health. It is an applied field that uses an interdisciplinary approach to examine the influence of diet on mental health. Nutrition psychology seeks to understand the relationship between nutritional behavior and mental health/well-being NP is a sub-field of psychology and more specifically of health psychology. It may be applied to numerous different fields including: psychology, dietetics, nutrition, and marketing. NP is a fairly new field with a brief history that has already started to contribute information and knowledge to psychology. There are two main areas of controversy within nutrition psychology. The first area of controversy is that the topic can be viewed in two different ways. It can be viewed as nutrition affecting psychological functions, or psychological choices and behavior influencing nutrition and health. The second controversy is the defining of what is "healthy" or "normal" as related to nutrition.
Emotional eating, also known as stress eating and emotional overeating, is defined as the "propensity to eat in response to positive and negative emotions". While the term commonly refers to eating as a means of coping with negative emotions, it sometimes include eating for positive emotions, such as overeating when celebrating an event or to enhance an already good mood.
Obesity and the environment aims to look at the different environmental factors that researchers worldwide have determined cause and perpetuate obesity. Obesity is a condition in which a person's weight is higher than what is considered healthy for their height, and is the leading cause of preventable death worldwide. Obesity can result from several factors such as poor nutritional choices, overeating, genetics, culture, and metabolism. Many diseases and health complications are associated with obesity. Worldwide, the rates of obesity have nearly tripled since 1975, leading health professionals to label the condition as a modern epidemic in most parts of the world. Current worldwide population estimates of obese adults are near 13%; overweight adults total approximately 39%.
Food security in the Central Valley, California, United states is a widespread issue. The Central Valley is where most of the state's and the nation's agriculture is produced. Despite this, many people living and working in the valley's agriculture industry are food insecure in some way, with contributing factors including lack of food sources, lack of healthy food choices, or income barriers. About a third of many Central Valley counties' populations were documented as food insecure in 2009. Due to the lack of healthy food choices, high rates of obesity have also been found in the Central Valley.
This is a list of food desert issues and solutions by country.
Soul food is a kind of African American cuisine that encompasses a variety of fried, roasted, and boiled food dishes consisting of chicken and pork meats, sweet potatoes, corn, leafy greens and other vegetables. Soul food has long been embedded in African American culture, but pushes towards healthy eating habits, for both physical and mental health, have adapted soul food cuisine to fit within health trends. This article will describe modifications of traditional soul food within health trends, including soul food with low carb, soul food with low sugar, soul food with low fat, soul food for vegan and soul food in gluten-free.
Food psychology is the psychological study of how people choose the food they eat, along with food and eating behaviors. Food psychology is an applied psychology, using existing psychological methods and findings to understand food choice and eating behaviors. Factors studied by food psychology include food cravings, sensory experiences of food, perceptions of food security and food safety, price, available product information such as nutrition labeling and the purchasing environment. Food psychology also encompasses broader sociocultural factors such as cultural perspectives on food, public awareness of "what constitutes a sustainable diet", and food marketing including "food fraud" where ingredients are intentionally motivated for economic gain as opposed to nutritional value. These factors are considered to interact with each other along with an individual's history of food choices to form new food choices and eating behaviors.
Nutritional epigenetics is a science that studies the effects of nutrition on gene expression and chromatin accessibility. It is a subcategory of nutritional genomics that focuses on the effects of bioactive food components on epigenetic events.
Food deserts are generally defined as regions that lack access to supermarkets and affordable, healthy foods, particularly in low-income communities. According to the USDA's most recent report on food access, as of 2017, approximately 39.5 million people - 12.9% of the US population - lived in low-income and low food access.
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