Leena Watts
Changing one's diet is a complex process that involves addressing various barriers and enablers, including social influences. Eating behaviours are strongly influenced by social contexts, and individuals tend to conform to the eating norms set by their social connections and cultural expectations. Social support has been shown to improve adherence to dietary changes, and social movements can play a decisive role in driving conversations and influencing social norms around food and diet. Dietary choices are also influenced by economic factors, such as food prices, wages, and purchasing power, which can impact food affordability and consumption patterns. Additionally, dietary changes can have unintended social, economic, and environmental consequences, such as income inequality between agricultural and non-farm workers and changes in global food demand. Thus, the relationship between diet and social change is multifaceted, and a comprehensive approach that considers various factors is necessary to understand and navigate this complex interplay.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Social eating norms | Can play a role in the development and maintenance of obesity |
| Social context | Influences eating behaviour |
| Social support | Improves adherence to a new diet |
| Social media and social movements | Can influence social norms and enable the effectiveness of more top-down policies |
| Social protection | Securing better wages and subsidizing poorer consumers may lead to healthy and sustainable diets |
| Social eating | People eat differently when with others compared to when they eat alone |
| Social events and parties | Can be challenging to maintain a healthy diet |
| Social comparison | Influences whether an eating norm is followed |
| Social influencers | Celebrities and individual champions can vitalize action |
| Social science | Provides data on the relationship between purchasing power and diet |
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What You'll Learn
Social eating norms
Eating behaviour is strongly influenced by the social context. People eat differently when in the company of others compared to when they eat alone. Our dietary choices tend to converge with those of our close social connections. This is because conforming to the behaviour of others is adaptive and rewarding. Norms of appropriate eating are set by the behaviour of other people, shared cultural expectations, and environmental cues. We are more likely to follow an eating norm if it is perceived to be relevant based on social comparison.
Social norms are also influenced by purchasing power and diet, cultural integration of food, and the environmental impacts of diets. For example, in regions with higher incomes, healthy foods become more affordable for people. In addition, the environmental impact of food systems and resource use can be reduced by eating fewer calories in richer countries. However, increasing fresh, plant-based food waste can also lead to more pollution.
Socioeconomic and policy drivers beyond the food system may outweigh changes within the agrifood sector. For instance, retail and catering food environments offer fewer choices to less wealthy consumers. Civil society initiatives and public or private policy frameworks are opening up new conversations on diets and food systems. For example, in Brazil, social movements have driven the creation of innovative national dietary guidelines that recommend behaviours around home cooking, communal eating, and discerning attitudes towards food.
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Social support
Research has shown that offering social support can significantly improve adherence rates to dietary changes. For example, in a study by Lemstra et al., participants who received nutritional guidance and training (NTG) had a higher adherence rate than those who only received training (TG). The NTG group formed close relationships with researchers and other participants during practical cooking sessions, which may have contributed to their success. Social media groups also played a role in fostering connections and providing support between participants.
Community-based initiatives and social movements can also provide social support for dietary changes. For instance, SPRING, a community-based initiative, used storytelling through community videos and live-action animations to promote better nutrition and hygiene practices in Guinea. They also shared videos on their Facebook page and broadcast them on television, reinforcing norms around family support for mothers' and children's nutrition. This approach reached over 183,000 Facebook users and led to substantial improvements in health outcomes, including a decrease in stunting in children under five.
Social media platforms have been instrumental in enabling citizen-led social movements to influence social norms and drive widespread behavioural changes related to diet and food systems. For example, social movements have led to the creation of innovative national dietary guidelines in Brazil that go beyond nutrition and promote behaviours such as home cooking and communal eating. Civil society plays a crucial role in system transformation by representing marginalized communities, holding governments and businesses accountable, and advocating for new social norms.
Additionally, social support can help address the barriers that make it difficult for individuals to adopt healthier dietary practices. For example, recognizing the high demands on women's time and labour, SPRING focused on providing better support for women within their families to enable them to improve their nutrition practices. By identifying and addressing these barriers, social support networks can facilitate behaviour change and improve health outcomes.
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Economic impacts
Changing diets can have significant economic impacts, both positive and negative, on individuals, communities, and the global economy.
One of the most notable economic impacts of changing diets is the effect on food demand and production. For example, a shift towards healthier and more sustainable diets, such as the EAT-Lancet diet, can reduce global demand for food and associated biomass production. This, in turn, can lead to lower prices for biomass and land, affecting farmers' incomes. The reduced demand for agricultural products can result in lower wages for agricultural workers compared to other sectors, exacerbating existing income inequality between agricultural and non-farm workers.
However, the impact on food demand and production is complex. While a decrease in food demand can lower prices for biomass and land, it can also make healthy food more affordable, especially in regions with higher incomes. This is because wages in the agricultural sectors might decrease, but food prices are falling even more, making healthy food more accessible.
Changing diets can also have indirect economic impacts on non-food sectors. When people, particularly in higher-income regions, spend less on food due to reduced portion sizes or switching to cheaper options, they tend to increase their spending on non-food products. This can lead to increased demand and production of non-food items, potentially resulting in higher wages in non-farm sectors. However, the additional emissions from non-food production could outweigh the decrease in emissions from reduced food production, leading to a net negative environmental impact.
To address these complex economic impacts, a combination of interventions is necessary. Retooling agricultural subsidies to include environmental and nutritional incentives has gained policy attention in influential economies like China and the European Union. Additionally, securing better wages for agricultural workers and subsidizing healthier food options for consumers could be a more sustainable alternative to solely subsidizing the production of staple crops.
In summary, changing diets can have far-reaching economic consequences, affecting food demand, production, wages, affordability, and even indirect emissions from non-food sectors. A comprehensive approach that considers both top-down policies and bottom-up social movements is essential to navigate these complexities and promote healthy and sustainable diets while mitigating negative economic impacts.
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Environmental impacts
A change in diet can be considered a social change, as eating behaviour is strongly influenced by social context. People tend to eat differently when with others compared to when they eat alone, and dietary choices often converge with those of close social connections. Social eating norms play a role in the development and maintenance of obesity, and can be a target for interventions to encourage healthier eating. Social support has been shown to improve adherence to dietary changes.
The environmental impacts of dietary changes are complex and can be both positive and negative. On the one hand, a transition to healthier and more sustainable diets, such as the EAT-Lancet diet, can reduce global food demand, biomass production, and associated environmental impacts. Eating fewer calories, especially in richer countries, can reduce the environmental impact of food systems and resource use.
However, there can be unintended consequences. For example, increasing fresh, plant-based food waste can lead to more pollution, especially if recycling facilities are located far from where the waste is produced. Additionally, when people spend less on food, they may spend more on non-food products, leading to increased production and higher greenhouse gas emissions. This can potentially cancel out the positive effects of reduced food emissions.
Dietary changes can also have indirect effects on the environment through their impact on the agricultural sector. Reduced food demand can lead to lower wages in agriculture, exacerbating income inequality between agricultural and non-farm workers. This can affect food affordability, especially in regions with higher incomes, where healthy foods may become more accessible due to higher purchasing power.
To address these complexities and strive for a more sustainable future, integrated solutions are needed that combine interventions inside and outside the agricultural sector. Additionally, retooling agricultural subsidies to include environmental and nutritional incentives has gained policy attention in influential economies. Citizen-led social media and social movements can also play a role in influencing social norms and driving widespread behavioural changes related to dietary choices.
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Social context
Eating behaviour is strongly influenced by social context. People tend to eat differently when in the company of others compared to when they are alone. Our dietary choices also tend to converge with those of our close social connections. This is because conforming to the behaviour of others is adaptive and rewarding. Norms of appropriate eating are set by the behaviour of other people, but also shared cultural expectations and environmental cues. We are more likely to follow an eating norm if it is perceived to be relevant based on social comparison.
Social support has been shown to improve the adherence rate to a diet by 29%. For example, in a study, participants gained a close relationship with the researchers and other co-participants during practical cooking sessions, which may be why they had a higher adherence rate. Social eating norms may play a role in the development and maintenance of obesity. Social eating norms constitute a novel target for interventions to encourage healthier eating.
Social movements and organizations have a decisive impact on changing diets. Civil society's roles in system transformation include representing and raising the voice of marginalized communities, holding businesses and governments accountable, demonstrating new ways of producing and consuming, developing resilient local economies, and advocating for different priorities or politics. For example, in Brazil, social movements have driven the creation of innovative national dietary guidelines that go beyond nutritional metrics to recommend behaviours around home cooking, communal eating, and discerning attitudes towards food.
Dietary changes can have unexpected negative social impacts. For example, a transition to healthier and more sustainable diets may lead to lower wages in the agricultural sector compared to other sectors. This is because skills for agriculture do not always match the skills demanded in other sectors, so agricultural workers are forced to stay in agriculture despite the lower wages. Changes in global food demand can have different influences on wages in the agricultural and non-farm sectors. When there is less demand for agricultural products, this leads to lower wages in agriculture compared to other sectors.
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Frequently asked questions
A change in diet can be a social change as eating behaviour is influenced by social context. People tend to conform to the eating behaviour of others as it is rewarding and socially acceptable. Social eating norms can also play a role in the development and maintenance of obesity. Social movements and organisations can influence social norms and bring about widespread behavioural change.
Some social barriers to changing one's diet include the challenge of avoiding unhealthy food at social events and parties, and the influence of social eating norms, which can make it difficult to maintain a healthy weight.
Examples of social movements that have influenced dietary changes include social movements on food across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa, France's Circular Economy Roadmap (2018), and the Nordic Council of Ministers' solutions menu for food policy. In Brazil, social movements have driven the creation of innovative national dietary guidelines that go beyond nutritional metrics to recommend behaviours around home cooking, communal eating, and discerning attitudes towards food.
