Factors Affecting Food Selection Essay

1. Introduction The office of this report is to analyse the 4 main types factors that affect the aliment filling of adolescents and how from each whizz of these factors affect their diets. As a prove of examining various net income websites and books nigh this topic, this report describes the 4 types of factors that affect diet pickaxe and the factors that determine the pabulum selection of adolescents the most.Consuming feed is vital for adolescents since they argonnt to the full developed yet, and what they feed is playd by various factors. The main types of factors argon psychological, physiological, social, and economical factors, and each of them influence what choices nation make when it comes to fargon. everyplace the past 20 years, teenagers make up adopted the habit of consuming a lot of throw out victuals, due to the influence of many economic, psychological, physiological and social factors. As measure goes on, the factors that affect the nutrient choices of adolescents may change.Overview of social factors Social factors that affect forage selection refer to the cultures and societies that adolescents live in, along with how the interaction with other tidy sum greatly influence the diet choices that they make. One of the concludes why social factors has a significant influence on adolescents is because their attitudes and habits relating to sustenance usually develop finished the interaction with their peers, friends and families. Social factors that have a great impact on the food selection of adolescents be the media, and their peers.Read to a greater extent(prenominal)Factors that influence kid development essay2.1 Peer Influences A peer is a mortal that has the same social status, and is around the same age as another(prenominal) person. The influence of peers is the greatest in adolescence. the reason for this is because like fashion, trends come and go in the food industry. For adolescents, being cool and b eing accepted among their peers is vital, so they usually follow the food trends that the majority of the group follow for that sake. Although, this causes them to drop their p atomic number 18nts influence on what they should and should not eat. In at presents society, teenagers are influenced by their peers to eat at popular steadfast food outlets much(prenominal) as Mc enteralds, since its a popular food trend among them. This affects them in a negative charge since the food that is sell at these outlets can have poor nutritional fosters. This causes an increase in diet preserved diseases in teenagers such as type 2 diabetes, and according to the Department of Health and Aging, type 2 diabetes is becoming to a greater extent than common in newfangleder age groups.2.2 Media In affluent societies, the media plays a significant role in food selection for adolescents. This is because they are clear to the thousands of food advertisements on a daily basis. thither are advert isements almost everywhere they go, such as on television, the internet, school buses, radios, and magazines, so adolescents willing be tempted to eat the product that is being advertised. The negative effect of these advertisements is that they are advertising food that is high in sugar, salt, and fat so they arent ideal for meeting their nutritional requirements. The media is one of the many factors responsible for the sunburnt lifestyles in teenagers and according to the Department of Health and Aging, 25% of children and adolescents were either punishing or obese in 2007-08, and to this day, this percentage has increased.2.3 Education Education astir(predicate) food and nutrients is essential for adolescents, since it helps them to become more knowledgeable and educated more or less their options when it comes to food selection and the nutritional requirements of their age group. Also, teenagers that are informed about this will most likely make better and wiser food choi ces than those who dont, although this all depends on whether the person is able to apply the knowledge into their workaday lives. Furthermore, adolescents that have the knowledge and skills to prepare their own food are withal more likely to make better and wiser food choices. The reason for this is because reservation a meal from scratch can prevent buying vigilant meals from fast food outlets, and home-cooked meals have a high nutritional determine than preprepared meals.Overview of psychological factors Psychological factors are linked with an individuals emotions, and their thoughts. The psychological factors that affect a persons food selection parti-color from individual to individual, since they are base on their lifestyle and childhood. They are in any case hard to describe and some factors even have a round-the-clock influence on an individual (E.g. Beliefs, values.) while others can change each day. (E.g. Attitudes, self esteem). Psychological factors that are s ignificant in the food selection of adolescents are beliefs, experiences and self-concept.3.1 ego concept Self concept is how individuals feel about themselves (Also known as self esteem) and the way the see their body epitome. Self concept can change over time, or even a few times a day. E.g. A compliment can boost your self esteem. Over the past few years, heap as young as 11 have started to become dissatisfied with their body image, curiously females. The reason for this is because the media has presented teenagers with the beautiful, and talented people who have the ideal body type, which has caused a pass in self esteem, and the dissatisfaction with their body image. As a result of this, many teenagers have tried to get the ideal body image by dieting, and the Department of Education and Child Development stated that 68% of 15 year old females are on a diet, of these, 8% are severely dieting. Self concept is a reason why people diet, and it has a huge impact on food selec tion since it can influence teenagers to eat food that have a high nutritional values. Despite this, it can also lead to them have next to nothing, which can potentially lead to life threatening eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa.3.2 Beliefs A belief is an opinion that isnt based on scientific proof, and they are often based on morality and cultural heritage. Many religious communities have placed restrictions on what their people can eat. (E.g. Hindus cannot eat beef because cows are sacred in their religion.) The reason why there are restrictions is because in the past, people believed that it would protect others from diseases, and poor hygiene. Beliefs are very significant, since they can influence eating habits. The reason for this is because adolescents usually follow the food beliefs of their own parents, so the food that they choose to eat would depend on that. For example, a teenager will most likely be a vegetarian if their parents are vegetarian.3.3 Emotions le vel(p) though it may not seem like it, emotions play an all most-valuable(predicate) role in food selection, especially during adolescence. The strongest desire for food happens when people are emotionally sensitive, and most are not even certain of it. Emotional eating is when people consume food as a way to deal with their emotions, and teenagers usually use it as a way to suppress negative emotions, such as grief, sadness, anger, and stress. It can be caused when they go through depressing events in life, such as the loss of a loved one, boyfriend/girlfriend breakups, divorce of parents etc. When this happens, comfort foods are consumed, which are foods that are usually high in fat, sugar, salt (For example, ice-cream, chocolate, candy, tater chips) and are generally not good for the health of teenagers if its ceaselessly happening.Overview of physiological factors Physiological factors affect the bodys craving (appetite), and assume for food (hunger). The body needs a cert ain amount of nutrients from food in order for it to function properly, and to be healthy. The amount of nutrients required go away from person to person, and they are based on their age, gender, build, activity level and health. pull down though teenagers should eat according to their nutritional requirements because they are still developing. Over the past few years, they usually eat according to what satisfies them.4.1 nutritional Requirements Nutritional requirements are the amount of minerals/vitamins an individual has to take in order to have a healthy lifestyle. The nutritional requirements of an individual depends on their life coif (Infant, child, adolescent, etc.), since each stage requires a different amount of nutrients. As adolescents, they are still developing so they need to have a higher calcium and protein intake (for bone and tissue growth), and carbohydrates (For energy). Gender plays in an crucial role in the nutritional requirements of adolescents. Females s tart to go through their menstrual period at this stage in life, so they require more iron to counter the blood loss during that time. They also need folate, because it decrease the chance of brain and spinal birth defects by 50-70% if they get expectant at a later stage. Males on the other hand, they require more zinc in order to protect their prostate gland and more protein to maintain their muscularity tissues, since they have a higher proportion of muscle tissue than females.4.2 Aroma and Taste Aroma and taste are closely related. Plenty of food gives off a scent that can be tasted before the food is actually eaten.The taste and aroma of food is one of the most important factors when it comes to food selection. The reason for this is because its what determines what food is appetising, and what isnt. For example, people wouldnt eat something that has a notional odour. Adolescents tend to choose the food they eat based on its taste, regardless of nutritional value and since toss away food tends to be tastier than healthy food, the majority of teenagers eat cast aside on a daily basis.4.3 Allergies/Food intolerance A food allergic reaction is when the immune system reacts to a certain type of food and rejects it, where as a food intolerance is the inability to digest a certain type of food. If a teenager has a food allergy or intolerance, then it would affect their food choices, since they would have to ensure that the food they consume doesnt contain the food that theyre allergic/ bigoted to. When a person has If they were to consume food that they are allergic to, they would set out from symptoms such as diarrhea, eczema,and asthma. Similarly, if a person were to consume food that they were rigid to, it would cause symptoms such as migraines, breathing problems and diarrhea.5. Overview of economic factors Economic factors relate to the food market and the costs. It is significant to food selection since the type of food that a person eats usually d epends the cost, the market and the resources that are forthcoming to the person. Economic factors also determines whether people are able to eat the food they want, or the only the food that they can afford. For adolescents, they only can eat what their parents are able to afford and what they can afford while theyre not at home.5.1 Cost of Food The cost of food is an important factor to consider. As an adolescent, what they eat at home relies on the income of their parents, since that determines the theatrical role and type of the food that is bought. Also, teenagers usually dont have a lot of money to spend on food while theyre out with friends. As a result of this, they usually have a habit of constantly eating at fast food outlets such as Mcdonalds because the food is cheap. Although this is convenient, its a bad habit because if junk food is constantly being consumed, theyre not meeting their nutritional requirements and can cause diet related diseases later on. It is estima ted that roughly 9 in 10 teenagers eat junk food everyday.6. Conclusion There are various factors that affect the food selection of adolescents. These factors are divided up into four categories- Social, economic, psychological and physiological. They all affect adolescents in various ways, and are some affect them negatively (E.g. the media), by influencing them to take on bad eating habits. Despite this, there are also that affect them positively (E.g. Education) by encouraging them to have healthy eating habits.