Traditional and modern eating in older adults: a comparison between an urban and rural sample from Gujarat, Western India.

Background: The present study aimed to investigate how often and to what degree older adults living in an area of Gujarat, Western India, enact traditional and modern eating behaviors. Specifically, we aimed to determine which facets of traditional eating are enacted rarely and which facets of modern eating are enacted often. Moreover, we hypothesized that urban older adults show a higher level of modern eating behaviors than rural older adults. Furthermore, we examined which traditional eating behaviors are more prevalent in rural older adults, and which are more prevalent in urban older adults. Methods: A trained research assistant administered a questionnaire in a face-to-face situation with 120 older adults in a rural and an urban area of Gujarat, Western India. Participants were asked how often and to what degree they perform 57 traditional and modern eating behaviors. Results: Overall, our sample of older Gujaratis reported a high level of traditional eating behaviors and a low level of modern eating behaviors. However, we also found, for example, a low level of the traditional eating facet of men getting preferential treatment and a high level of the modern eating facet of food being readily available. Moreover, most modern eating facets were more pronounced in the urban than in the rural sample. This was also the case for half of all traditional eating facets. Conclusion: Our sample of older adults living in an area of Gujarat displayed more modern eating behaviors in urban than in rural areas. At the same time, however, the urban sample showed also more traditional eating behaviors, such as eating more fruits, possibly because of better food availability. Altogether, results might hint at some signs of modernization among older adults in this area of Gujarat with regard to changing gender roles and better food availability.

Similar or different? Comparing food cultures with regard to traditional and modern eating across ten countries.

Food cultures can play a role in health and well-being. This raises the questions of whether nation boundaries unite the food cultures of different regions and ethnic groups, what characterises food cultures from very different parts of the world, and what similarities and differences exist. The present study aimed to investigate these questions with regard to eating traditions and modern eating practices. In this cross-sectional study, we recruited 3722 participants from ten countries - Brazil, China, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, and the USA. Participants represented 25 regional and ethnic groups. They were queried about 86 traditional and modern facets of their food cultures in interviews, paper-pencil and online questionnaires. First, hierarchical cluster analysis suggested nine distinct clusters of food cultures - the food cultures of the Brazilian, Chinese, Ghanaian, Indian, Japanese, Mexican, Turkish, African and Latin US American samples, and of European descendants. Interestingly, for seven of the ten investigated countries, nation boundaries united food cultures. Second, each of the nine food culture clusters was characterised by a unique pattern of traditional and modern eating practices. Third, the nine food culture clusters varied more in their traditional eating practices than their modern eating practices. These results might promote a better understanding of the link between food cultures and health and well-being that goes beyond nutrients. For instance, food cultures might be linked to well-being via strengthening people's sense of cultural identity. Moreover, the present results contribute to a better understanding of the complex interplay between food and culture, and could help in developing culturally competent interventions to improve diet and reduce the risk of eating-related diseases.

Understanding traditional and modern eating: the TEP10 framework.

Across the world, there has been a movement from traditional to modern eating, including a movement of traditional eating patterns from their origin culture to new cultures, and the emergence of new foods and eating behaviors. This trend toward modern eating is of particular significance because traditional eating has been related to positive health outcomes and sustainability. Yet, there is no consensus on what constitutes traditional and modern eating. The present study provides a comprehensive compilation of the various facets that seem to make up traditional and modern eating. Specifically, 106 facets were mentioned in the previous literature and expert discussions, combining international and interdisciplinary perspectives. The present study provides a framework (the TEP10 framework) systematizing these 106 facets into two major dimensions, what and how people eat, and 12 subdimensions. Hence, focusing only on single facets of traditional and modern eating is an oversimplification of this complex phenomenon. Instead, the multidimensionality and interplay between different facets should be considered to gain a comprehensive understanding of the trends, consequences, and underlying factors of traditional and modern eating.

What Constitutes Traditional and Modern Eating? The Case of Japan.

Traditional Japanese dietary culture might be a factor contributing to the high life expectancy in Japan. As little is known about what constitutes traditional and modern eating in Japan, the aims of the current study were to (1) comprehensively compile and systematize the various facets of traditional and modern eating; and (2) investigate whether these facets also apply to traditional and modern eating in Japan. In Study 1, an extensive international literature review was performed. Forty-five facets of traditional and modern eating were compiled and systematized into the dimensions of what and how people eat, and into eleven separate subdimensions. In Study 2, 340 adults from Japan answered a questionnaire. Results showed that traditional and modern eating in Japan is reflected in both what and how people eat. Within these two dimensions, ten subdimensions were found: the ingredients, processing, temporal origin, spatial origin, and variety of consumed foods, as well as temporal, spatial, and social aspects, appreciation, and concerns when eating. This study provides a broad compilation of facets of traditional and modern eating in Japan. Future research should investigate how these facets are related to life expectancy and health.

French consumers' perceptions of nutrition and health claims: A psychosocial-anthropological approach.

UNLABELLED: French consumers' perceptions of nutrition and health claims (NHC) are studied using both qualitative (n = 89) and quantitative (n = 1000) methods. We analyse the participants' unprompted associations between nutrients and foods and construct a "lay food composition table". We find evidence for a degree of familiarity, in most cases in name only, with macronutrients and a small number of micronutrients. We then turn to assessing how compatible nutritional claims are with the « lay food composition table ¼ and with pre-existing, culture-based representations of the fate of foods in the body. We thus identify some principles predicting for positive or negative response in relation to types of claims. We also assess the credibility of types of claims according to the function cited and the carrier food. Finally, we test perception of hypothetical fortifications according to origin of nutrient and type of carrier food (e.g. omega 3 from fish oil in ham). RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: we find (1) that the very principle of fortification disrupts culture-based representations French consumers have of the link between food and health, which they consider to essentially reside in a "varied and balanced diet". And that (2), in spite of a general disposition against NHC, some types of claims are deemed more acceptable and credible than others. The questions raised by these findings are whether and to what extent nutrition can, does and should replace food cultures.

European and American perspectives on the meaning of natural.

Attitudes to natural foods and genetically modified organisms, assessed by multiple choice items, definitions of natural, and free associations to the word "natural" were determined for a representative sample of adults from France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the U.K., and the U.S.A. Individuals in all countries had a very positive attitude to natural. There is a surprising degree of similarity in conceptions of natural across the six countries, with a focus of food (and beverages) as central to the idea of natural, and links to the ideas of biological, healthy, plants, and the environment. Demographic differences (e.g., sex, education) were also small. Analysis of definitions and free associations suggests, and other data confirm, that across all countries, natural is defined principally by the absence of certain "negative" features (e.g., additives, pollution, human intervention), rather than the presence of certain positive features. Across all countries, plants, and in particular, plant foods, are more frequent exemplars of "natural" than are animals, with green the dominant color associated with natural. There is opposition to genetic engineering, which can be thought to be the opposite of natural, in all countries, but it is highest in continental Europe and lowest in the U.S.A.

Broad Themes of Difference between French and Americans in Attitudes to Food and Other Life Domains: Personal Versus Communal Values, Quantity Versus Quality, and Comforts Versus Joys.

Analysis of previous literature on the role of food in life in France and the United States suggests some fundamental differences in attitudes which may generalize outside of the food domain. Questionnaire results from French and American adults suggest that, compared to the French, Americans emphasize quantity rather than quality in making choices, Americans have a higher preference for variety, and Americans usually prefer comforts (things that make life easier) over joys (unique things that make life interesting). The American preference for quantity over quality is discussed in terms of the American focus on abundance as opposed to the French preference for moderation. The American preference for variety is reflective of Americans' more personal as opposed to communal food and other values.

Medical doctors' attitudes and beliefs about diet and health are more like those of their lay countrymen (France, Germany, Italy, UK and USA) than those of doctors in other countries.

The relation between diet and health has become a public health concern in Western/developed countries. Physicians are influenced in their views about health by their medical training and membership in a particular culture/nation to one extent or another. Their medical training is itself influenced by both a common body of accepted formal knowledge and practice and culture- or nation-specific influences on medical education. In this study, we compared physicians from different countries and physicians and lay individuals from the same country with regard to beliefs and attitudes about the relation between diet and health and other health-related issues. Telephone interviews about diet and health conducted with randomly sampled physicians and laypersons in France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the USA revealed substantial cultural/national differences and few differences between physicians and laypersons of the same country. Three different measures of similarity converged in supporting the claim that in the areas of diet and health, physicians resemble their countrymen more than they resemble physicians from other Western countries. The degree to which differences in culture- and nation-mediated medical education influence these results is to be determined.

Attitudes towards large numbers of choices in the food domain: a cross-cultural study of five countries in Europe and the USA.

Telephone interviews of 6000 representative adults from France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the UK, and the USA, included two items on attitudes to variety. One had to do with whether the respondent preferred a choice of 10 versus 50 ice cream flavors. Ten choices were preferred by a majority of respondents from each country except the United States. A second item asked whether one expected a small or large menu choice in an upscale restaurant. A majority in all countries expected the small number of choices, but this expectation was lowest in the UK and USA. High variety expectations and preferences were weakly positively correlated (r=0.19). There was no substantial relation between a variety of demographic variables and variety preferences or expectations, except that older people were less inclined to prefer the high (50) variety in ice cream choices (r=0.28). The results suggest that the US, and the UK to some extent, focus on providing choices that cater to individual differences in preferences, whereas the continental European countries are more attached to communal eating values.

Risk perception of the "mad cow disease" in France: determinants and consequences.

Since 1996, when bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was assessed as a possible human transmissible disease, a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), French people have entered into a long period of fear and avoidance of beef and bovine byproducts, which produced an unprecedented collapse in the beef market. This article deals with the perceived risk of the "mad cow disease" (MCD) in the French general population. Two surveys were conducted on a representative sample of the adult population, the first one in 2000 during the peak of the crisis and the second one 13 months later in a quieter period. The main assumption we made was that changes in beef consumption are strongly related to the perceived risk of MCD, which we defined as people's cognitive and affective responses to hazard. Our objective was to identify the determinants and consequences of this perceived risk and to compare them in different sociopolitical contexts. The results issued from a bivariate and multivariate analysis show that: (i) the distribution of most of the variables significantly related to the perceived risk identified in the first survey had changed in the second survey, in relation with the reduction of worry and the resumption of national beef consumption; (ii) the propensity for self-protection through avoiding or ceasing beef eating was more related to feelings of worry than to subjective vCJD risk assessments; and (iii) the main determinant of less avoidance to beef products was the preference for beef, a feeling identified prior to emergence of the risk of MCD, remaining unchanged in various contexts.

Could measuring of perceived risk among general practitioners have helped anticipate the French BSE crisis?

In October of 2000, a second BSE crisis caught French public authorities unprepared and caused a collapse in beef consumption as well as considerable political turmoil. Data collected between May and July, 2000, among a group of general practitioners (GPs), while national consumption of beef was back to pre-BSE levels, paradoxically showed high latent risk perception, suggesting a new crisis was possible or likely.

The ecology of eating: smaller portion sizes in France Than in the United States help explain the French paradox.

Part of the "French paradox" can be explained by the fact that the French eat less than Americans. We document that French portion sizes are smaller in comparable restaurants, in the sizes of individual portions of foods (but not other items) in supermarkets, in portions specified in cookbooks, and in the prominence of "all you can eat" restaurants in dining guides. We also present data, from observations at McDonald's, that the French take longer to eat than Americans. Our results suggest that in the domain of eating, and more generally, more attention should be paid to ecological factors, even though their mechanism of operation is transparent, and hence less revealing of fundamental psychological processes. Ironically, although the French eat less than Americans, they seem to eat for a longer period of time, and hence have more food experience. The French can have their cake and eat it as well.