Week 8: Life Course perspective on Food Habits

Question 1

What is life course perspective of Food habits?

Answer 1

• Focuses on how the life history of groups or individuals in society may explain differences in health
• Applied to food choices:
-People bring past food choices and thoughts and feelings associated with
those choices when making current choices
- Temporal, social and historical contexts shape what past food habits were.
- To understand how people construct food and eating choices now, need to understand the past and how environments and influences change over time

Question 2

What are the 3 frameworks for understanding life course perspective on Food Habits?

Answer 2

Temporal
Social
Historical

Question 3

Talk about Temporal perspective on understanding life course perspective on Food Habits

Answer 3

-How food choice trajectories develop and transition over time in a
person’s life
-Importance of timing for some food choices

Question 4

Talk about Social perspective on understanding life course perspective on Food Habits

Answer 4

• Major social locations of food choices: social class, ethnicity, gender
• How stable or transient the nature or meaning of these social contexts are over the life span

Question 5

Talk about Historical perspective on understanding life course perspective on Food Habits

Answer 5

• How food choices develop in historical time
• Context of social, economic, food and health policy
• Food choice trajectories of cohorts or generations that developed in a particular time in history

Societal shifts: rise in maternal employment and hours
worked, time spent preparing and eating meals at home.
• Cultural shifts: availability of fast food, meals consumed in
cars/on-the-go, eating foods from restaurants/takeaways.
• Food supply: exposure to time-saving products, different food
cultures, enriched/fortified foods, prepared foods.
• Food and nutrient guidelines:
• Shift from focus on nutrient deficiencies in early 20th
century to concern about diet-related disease
• Advances in scientific understanding

Question 6

Define Food Choice Trajectory

Answer 6

persistent thoughts, feelings, strategies, and actions with
food and eating developed over the life course in social and historical
context
• Persistence: have direction and momentum
• Relatively stable in adulthood, a few major turning points
• Cumulative: develop over a lifetime

Question 7

Explain Food Choice Trajectory

Answer 7

1• Definition: persistent thoughts, feelings, strategies, and actions with
food and eating developed over the life course in social and historical
context
- Persistence: have direction and momentum
- Relatively stable in adulthood, a few major turning points
- Cumulative: develop over a lifetime
2- Consider influences over the life course: family food upbringing;
personal and family health history; acquired resources including life skills; social locations for food choices provided by ethnic identity, social and gender roles; historical contexts (e.g. nutrition
recommendations over lifetime)

Question 8

What is the evidence of Food Choice Trajectory?

Answer 8

Devine CM et al (Life-course events and experiences: association with fruit and vegetable
consumption in 3 ethnic groups)

• Life course events and experiences positively associated with fruit and
vegetable consumption:
a• Parental and marital roles
b• Acquisition of food skills
c• Eating from a garden in childhood
d• Developing a liking for fruit/vegetables in youth
• Early life biological programming models
• Exposure to new foods in infancy/childhood and subsequent liking
• Longitudinal studies: food choices/dietary intakes track with future
choice/dietary intakes over 3-9 years
• Note: research not always very good at taking into account cumulative
experiences

Question 9

Explain Transitions and turning points in life course persp. on food choice

Answer 9

Transitions include move from living with parent(s) to living
independently (and for parents to no longer having kids at home),
becoming a parent, single to partnered, job loss.
• Adaptations to food choice trajectories at these times
a• New settings
b• New social context
c• Change in resources

Turning points: more drastic life change involving change in personal
identity → more dramatic (and permanent?) changes in food choices:
• Disease diagnosis, death of a partner, adoption of vegetarian diet

Question 10

When do food choices stabilise?

Answer 10

• Adolescent transition to adulthood often associated with changes in diet →
trying different identities as eaters.
(Temporary or long-lasting?)
• Clear differences in food habits by age/stage

Question 11

What is adolescence?

Answer 11

Developmental period between childhood and adulthood
• Period of rapid growth and development
a• Growth spurt: demand for energy and nutrients high
• Peak usually at 12.5 for girls; 14 for boys
b• Puberty
c• Rapid changes in body size, body shape/proportions, body composition
• Social changes: independence, transition into adulthood

Question 12

Nutrients of concern in adolescence?

Answer 12

1. Iron
   • Requirements increased during adolescence to help with growth and muscle
   development
   • After menstruation begins, girls need more (11-18 years old: 14.8 mg/day vs. 11.3
   mg/day for males)
   • NDNS (2014/15-2015/16):
   • 9% of girls aged 11-18 years had hemoglobin levels lower than WHO lower limit
   • 54% of girls with intakes below lower reference nutrient intake (12% of boys)
2. Calcium
   • Rapid increase in bone mass requires more calcium, with consequences of future
   bone health
   • NDNS (2014/15-2015/16): 11% of boys with intakes below lower reference nutrient
   intake and 22% of girls

Question 13

Talk about need for Iron in adolescence

Answer 13

Requirements increased during adolescence to help with growth and muscle
development
• After menstruation begins, girls need more (11-18 years old: 14.8 mg/day vs. 11.3
mg/day for males)
• NDNS (2014/15-2015/16):
• 9% of girls aged 11-18 years had hemoglobin levels lower than WHO lower limit
• 54% of girls with intakes below lower reference nutrient intake (12% of boys)

Question 14

Talk about need for Calcium in adolescence

Answer 14

increased need is there.
• Rapid increase in bone mass requires more calcium, with consequences of future
bone health
• NDNS (2014/15-2015/16): 11% of boys with intakes below lower reference nutrient
intake and 22% of girls

Question 15

What are the 3 main type of influences on adolescent eating behaviour?

Answer 15

Intraindividual Factors
Intra Familial Factors
Extra Familial Factors

Question 16

Talk about the Intra Individual influences on adolescent eating behaviour

Answer 16

It is the the link between food preferences and awareness of healthy eating
• Food preferences shapes by taste, texture, appearance, familiarity,
smell, how food is prepared.
• Adolescents:
a) Expressed preference for unhealthy foods though had clear understanding of
what it means to eat healthily.
b) More awareness of importance of eating healthy diet compared to young
children→ discussed long-term consequences.
• Gap between nutritional awareness in theory and putting knowledge
into practice.

Question 17

Talk about the Intra Familial influences on adolescent eating behaviour

Answer 17

It is the role of the home food environment
• Food choices limited during family mealtimes
• Barriers to family mealtimes and consequences for their diets
a) School, sports involvement, extracurricular activities, parents’ work schedules, social
activities
b) Adolescents: their own work schedules, autonomy
c)Consequences: more convenience food, “junk” food
• Shifting control: younger children subject to “rules” set by parents; older adolescents had more control because ate away from home, had ability to self-purchase and self-prepare food

Question 18

Talk about the Extra Familial influences on adolescent eating behaviour

Answer 18

It is the role of eating away from the home.
• Adolescents placed more value on eating away from home than
younger children.
• Discussed social eating occasions and influences on their eating
habits, but limited by finances they had:
• Changing role of school food:
a) Younger children: ate packed lunches from home or limited to school canteen
b) Adolescents: own money to spend, could leave school to purchase

Question 19

compare the findings of the offers from school vs.

food retailers for adolescents

Answer 19

W. J. Wills et al:
School food positives: good value for money, convenient, potential that
eligibility for free school meals influenced feelings.
• School food negatives: limited food available in terms of quality, taste,
availability, portion size, and price (or lack of visible price lists)
a) Especially small items: too small, poor value for money, ran out
b) Chips: not allowed to be purchased on their own according to Nutrient Standards for
School
c) Snack offer: low-fat, baked varieties
d) Lack of table salt, limited condiments
• Outside school: variety of choices and variety of retailers, can easily buy
more if still hungry, can select what they’d like.
• Retailers aware of students’ preferences and tailor to them; discounted
prices during school lunch hours

Question 20

Talk about the findings of the social nature of lunchtime

Answer 20

W. J. Wills et al
• External food environment: a place they wanted to hang out with their friends:
Could take their time, “hang around”
• Schools: sometimes seen as “anti-social”:
a) Closed doors to dining halls
b) Staff clearing tables/cleaning floors while there
c) Lack of space for pupils
• Spending time with friends viewed by young people as a critical element of the lunchbreak, prioritised over where food was purchased from

Question 21

Talk about the findings on Where and with whom do adolescents consume non-core foods

Answer 21

Toumparkari et al:
• Non-core foods based on sugar and fat content
• Eating occasions:
a) 68% of eating occasions at home
b) 25% alone and 23% with friends

• Non-core food eating occasions were just as likely to occur at home

• Some settings/company more/less likely to contain non-core foods:
a) When eating occasions occurred in “Eateries” (restaurants, cafés and fast-food places), 89%
contained non-core foods
b) When eating occasions with friends occurred, more likely to contain non-core foods (77%)
c) When eating occasions alone occurred, less like to contain non-core foods and more likely to be in
morning (i.e. breakfast?)

A lot of variation from eating occasion to eating occasion: “within-person” variation.

• Amount of non-core energy intake better predicted by characteristics of the eating
occasion (where, with whom) than characteristics of the individual

Question 22

What are the factors affecting food habits in old age?

Answer 22

Whitelock et al
.Physiological/age-related changes
• Psychosocial
• Economic access to food
• Relationship with food

Question 23

Talk about physiological factors affecting food habits in old age

Answer 23

Whitelock et al
A) loss of appetite
• Digestive system changes: slower gastric emptying, lower ghrelin levels, possibly
higher CCK and baseline leptin levels
• Reduced saliva production due to medication use
• Reduce taste and smell acuity: due to aging process, health conditions, medication
use
• Consequences: smaller portion sizes, changes in food choices, weight loss,
lack of food cravings, absence of response to dietary monotony

B) decrease oral health and chewing efficiency
Tooth loss: avoidance of stringy, crunchy or dry solid foods
• Poor oral health associated with poorer nutritional health

C) health conditions and disability
• Higher rates of chronic illness and in turn, more restrictions on diets
• More use of medication → suppressed appetite, taste and smell, saliva production, nausea
• Mobility issues widely prevalent among older people.
• Mobility issues can impact on ability to access shops.
• As a result, convenience may increase in importance.
• Sight loss/reduced vision/physical impairments can impact on food preparation activities and
ability to cook and read food labels.
• Loss of manual dexterity and physical pain: resulting in preparation of simpler meals, diminished
home baking, greater use of ready meals.

D) Access to food support
• Qualitative findings highlighted importance of support with food, typically provided by family, friends, community services.
a) Shopping services (e.g. door-to-door bus service to supermarket)
b) Lunch clubs/community centres
c) Meals prepared by family members

Question 24

Talk about psychosocial factors affecting food habits in old age

Answer 24

Whitelock et al
A) Living alone
Aging often associated with bereavement; loss of a partner associated with
poorer nutritional intakes and dietary quality.
• Loneliness/lack of social eating opportunities: many older people live alone
• Associated with poorer dietary quality among older men compared to those married
and not living alone.
• Qualitative findings highlighted how living alone influenced motivation to prepare
food and also enjoyment of eating it

B) shopping for one
• Aging often associated with bereavement; loss of a partner associated with poorer nutritional intakes and dietary quality.

• Loneliness/lack of social eating opportunities: many older people live alone
a) Associated with poorer dietary quality among older men compared to those married
and not living alone.
b) Qualitative findings highlighted how living alone influenced motivation to prepare
food and also enjoyment of eating it

• Packet sizes too large, leading to concerns about waste

Question 25

Talk about economic factors affecting food habits in old age

Answer 25

• Lower socioeconomic status associated with reduced diet quality among older adults
• Prices of food
• Poverty/constrained incomes

Question 26

Talk about Whitelock et al’s key finding in qualitative research in . On Your Own: Older Adults’ Food Choice and Dietary Habits

Answer 26

older age is a transition or turning point
• Depending on individual circumstances, exposure to many factors
that act as transitions or turning points in older adults’ food
trajectories:
Bereavement
Social isolation/loneliness
Physical health/disease

Question 27

Relationship with food in old age as per Whitelock et al’s qualitative findings

Answer 27

Relationship with food (qualitative findings) Whitelock et al
• Shaped by previous experiences and food history
• But also commonalities related to generation/age:
• Buying novel produce uncommon
• Rarely strayed from habitual food purchased→ stuck to what they know and
enjoy.
• Influenced by enjoyment → main driver. Health aspects not a key factor in food choice decision making.