Social and Cultural Perspectives in Nutrition

Book excerpt: Abstract: A biocultural approach to nutrition emphasizes the impact of the social sciences on food intake. Purchasing, preferences and ideology are heavily influenced by social, economic, political, and cultural processes. Food consumption surveys, data collection and analysis (including types of dietary surveys), the interview, statistical methods, and reliability of methods are discussed. Time and cost factors have led to new approaches in dietary assessment such as scalogram analysis, food scores, and quality indices. Widely divergent dietary patterns of Americans are discussed by ethnic group: Puerto Ricans, Black Americans, Mexican Americans, American Indians (several tribes), and Asian Americans (Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Hawaiians). Food habit modification is complex due to a rigid structure of social values that determine behavior. Nutrition/communication specialists are needed for research activities, mass media, governmental nutrition action programs and mandated nutrition education programs. Ethics of nutrition intervention are an important concern in affecting dietary changes. Each chapter is followed by a lengthy bibliography. (rkm).