Factors affecting nutritional health in 4 groups in society

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Merit Explain factors affecting the nutritional health and well being of different groups of individuals.

Choose at least four of the population groups and explain different factors affecting their intake and food choices and the effect this has on their well-being.

Developed world

The developed world are countries with a high standard of living, with high technology and economies, these include countries like the United Kingdom and the United States of America.  Factors that influence what food people chose in the developed world include age, gender, lifestyle, family and cultural background, education and where they live.

People’s food preferences tend to change when they are exposed to new people, places and situations – otherwise they stick to the food and patterns that they know.  Depending where a person lived, there could be a large choice of food or very little.  A large choice of food could be if someone lived in a town, close by a supermarket, a small choice of food could be someone that lived in a farm or out in the country.  Food is imported in developed countries, from all round the world – so there is lots of exotic food that only grows in hot climates.  Therefore people in developed countries have lots of choice of food, because people do not have to grow the food to feed themselves, they go to the supermarket and choose it, during all seasons. With this large choice in food, people are more likely to have access to all the nutrients they need.  There is a very large choice in food available for people, at most hours during the day, for example: take away.  This means that people have access to all kinds of food at all hours during the day and night, meaning that individuals have the choice what to eat and when, so it is important that are eating the correct nutrients.

With supermarkets, there is large production of the food coming into the country – so it is not very expensive.  There are lots of outlets where food is available from like fast food restaurants, ‘Tesco’ and ‘Adsa’ etc.

Parental choice and culture may limit the food choice, as people may not want to try new things.  Pre-school children are willing to try new foods, when children start school they are more influenced by their peers.  Parents should encourage their children to try as may food varieties as possible so they have a wide choice of food in their diet, and it should be kept as healthy as possible.

Education is compulsory and free in the developed world, and the educational system is designed to help maintain good dietary practice.  These educational programmes should be used towards all people, including vegetarians, vegans, people with religious ideologies and allergies.  These programmes should also include all social groups, “i.e. the better-educated, middle class, professional people” (stretch et al p445)

Early habits created by family life are difficult to break, for example if we eat food that is bad for us when we are younger and our families allow this – when we learn as an adult that it is bad for us, we may wish to give it up, which may be difficult because we like it so much and are set in a routine of if being in our life.  These bad foods could be chocolate, which tastes very nice, but is very high is sugar which could rot our teeth or make us put on weight – but the taste and sugar may be difficult to give up.

Supermarkets and major food companies are now trying to encourage healthy eating, but introducing ‘low fat’ products, as well as ‘low sugar’, ‘low calories’ and including all the –nutritional information on the packet.  The newest way of helping people be aware of what they are eating is there is a colour-coded wheel on the front of products, showing the amount of fat, saturated fats, salt, sugar and calories in the product (see picture on the left) The green colours means is it healthy, the orange colours means it in in-between and red means it is unhealthy.

Foods sold in the developed world in supermarkets that are more healthy, especially organic or fair-trade are very expensive.  Members of society who do not receive as much income as others, will not be able to afford these foods and therefore will be ‘forced’ to eat unhealthy food, or eat healthy food but not get enough for their body – which would leave them malnourished.  The Government white paper ‘saving lives’ (1997) says that healthy food should be more available and affordable to people with less money.  The Government could help with these issues, such as raising the minimum wage, making sure people are being paid equally, helping lower the amount of unemployment and bad housing.  All these factors that are under the control of the Government all influence dietary habits, and contribute to poor health.

The population of developing countries has been rising faster than the production of food.  People are not educated enough/early enough about sexual education, so a lot of people are not aware of contraceptives – which means a lots of people get pregnant without meaning to, resulting in the population rising.  The United Kingdom currently has the highest amount of teenage pregnancies in Europe.  So the education system needs to be improved to make more people aware of sexual contraception and health in general.  In Holland there is a very explicit version of sexual education introduced at an early age, this actually manages to keep the amount of teenage pregnancies down to the lowest in Europe.

Developed countries have plenty of clean, fresh water enriched with minerals, this water is safe and clean at all times.  It is estimated that 250,000 people die per year from diseases in the water in under-developed countries.  People in developed countries take for granted their access to water, but it does keep down disease.

There have been recent advances in bio-technology in the developing world, which have led to new and improved food products.  There are now different ways of preserving foods, for example: fast freezing, freeze-drying which result in longer shelf life for the food.  The food no longer needs to be eaten as soon as it has been harvested, so foods can now be contained safely and exported all over the world, so food can now be available to a wider population over an extended period of the year.

Altering food by genetic engineering has contributed to drug-resistant and pest-resistant foods.  So a farmer may grow fields of crops, without worrying about them becoming contaminated because of chemicals they have on them to deter anything getting to the food that is inedible for humans.  Organic food that is available in the supermarkets is food that is grown naturally, that has not had any chemicals sprayed on it – some people prefer to buy these foods, as they believe they are healthier and more natural.  Free range eggs, are eggs that have come from chickens that can run free in a natural open space, eating natural food.  Non free range eggs are eggs where the chickens are kept in small enclosures in cramped conditions, and are fed processed foods.  All these are advances of the developed world.  Genetic engineered food can produce a lot more food a lot more quickly, so it can keep up with the demands of the rising populations in the developing world.  

There is lots of media influence on the developed world, for example: size zero debate.  So people in the developing world, may be more likely to be malnourished if they are influenced by the media, and do not eat properly to try and stay thin.

Unhealthy snacks are widely available in the developed world, in all supermarkets, corner shops, rest stations on motorways, vending machines etc.  These snacks include things like chocolate bars and crisps, which have become more available than they used to be.  Eating too many snacks like these could lead to people getting tooth decay form sugar, becoming obese or becoming more at risk of heart disease/some cancers/stroke/low self esteem etc.

There are lots of gyms available to go to in the developed world, but they are very expensive.  For example I know the gym ‘Esporta’ charges £50 a month student discount!  So even though the gym helps to encourage people to exercise and live an active lifestyle, it is too expensive for many people.  There is also all the guilt from the media that adds to people’s desire to exercise, in nearly all women’s magazines there will be diet plans to lose weight.

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The occupations people have in the developed world do not tend to be physical labour, they are mostly office jobs, or driving jobs.  These jobs do not help people to live an active lifestyle, as they are sitting down all day, which means they are jot getting any cardiovascular exercise, or using their muscles etc.  They may also get bored sitting down all day and snack more, meaning that people in these situations are more likely to become overweight, which puts ones health at risk.

There is lots of transport available in the developed world, so people do ...

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