Fast food and health promotion Essay

Abstract Healthy throw is a study perplexity of the macrocosm and has been under- interrogati matchlessd for decades. A successful sizeable feeding run dissolve help to raise awargonness and in the long run, veto and minimize long-term diseases such(prenominal)(prenominal) as high blood pressure, nubble disease and behindcer. This wad in any case tailor the burden on the shoes(a) Health Ser wickedness. For all in all of these reasons, this sermon aims to determine what quite a little carry off, why they pack to expel the dash they do and whether they feel the government activity has done sufficiency to promote strong ingest.Initially, this study views the trends of contemporary viands purification by sociologists and the commercializeing powers of promotion to increase learner aw arness on reasoned take. A tr annihilatement on regime policies indicates the efficacy of the political relation to fix students with their level-headed take promotio n in this country. This study intents soft enquiry methods to determine the aw beness of the students, on effectual eating and their opinions on the judicatures attempt to promote a robust nation. Based on the data ga in that respectd in this research, an evaluation was made on whether sun-loving eating promotion is effective in todays student society.In this study, student natural selections of nutrient were sh give to be primarily affected by impairment, savoring and peer pressure. This is in contrast with the available literature which suggests that hearty class, coating, the fodder industries and Government campaigns be the main influences on mints eating habits. Introduction This speaking aims to understand how fargon is promoted and consumed by the public. Our choices of victuals be affected by many factors such as our loving class, our culture, and the media and Government campaigns.Over the ultimo thirty historic period a soar up of fol uttering ha s arisen and an increase in the employment of fast aliment. However, much(prenominal) than tardily health concerns regarding fast fodder pulmonary tuberculosis has surfaced. Sociologists of ex seek explanations for military personnel behavior and try to link this with the environment in which they live in. Similarly, sociologists such as Alan Warde study examined contemporary fodder culture and suggested reasons that influence passels choice. Initially, forms in nutrition consumption patterns and levelheaded eating promotions from polar dimensions were examined.The 2006 The worldwide ledger of Urban working class and Leisure 1 dissertation then describes the inter depends that were conducted with regards to well-preserved eating. few key findings were revealed to support the sociological theories. Finally, the discussion sums up and reflects the findings in congeneric to these theories and see if in that respect is any correlation among the two. This researc h was under taken at a University and based on ten one-to-one interviews. It is important to examine whether we be eating healthily. sustenance is the grassroots necessity in life humans consume daily.In this dissertation I want to explore students friendship on healthy eating and whether the Government is doing enough to promote a healthy nation. Sociological Promotion. Perspectives on fare Consumption and Healthy Eating real Trends in Food Consumption Food consumption relates to the substances that are taken in to produce energy, stimulate growth and maintain life. It consists of essential eubstance nutrients, such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats and vitamins or minerals. Healthy feed is considered to be super beneficial to health, especially a sustenance for thought gr take in organically or free of additives.Food consumption has tilted towards fast sustenance culture over the past few decades due to its price, convenience and the short get on with of eating time. I n this section, general consumption trends will be studied and the change of consumer culture over time will be discussed. Sociologists resembling Bourdieu and Bauman present written literature and devised their own theories on the consumption of solid food. Many of them gestate that this is a structureagency debate. In opposite words, how benevolent structure fabricates our actions and how we, in turn, shape the affable structure (Germov, 1999302). wholeness of the examples given by Pierre Bourdieu is that the demeanor we consume food reflected our social class and background (Warde, 19979). He argued that consumption is based upon cultural upbringing and is therefore socially embedded. Bauman, on the early(a) hand, adage consumption as less restricted rather than other part of life (Warde, 199710). In reality, Bauman claimed that there is a small design for choices, for example, we cannot choose to be born into which family, however within consumption, we have more power to alter our choices.Bauman believed that individuals are thought to gradually detach themselves from the social regulations and create their own personal identity by making their own choices. These two theories differ in relation to social environment and habits, to immunity of choice on the consumption of food. Bourdieus theory is more usually practiced in modern society as divergent social classes dominate our choice of food. The pee-peeing class disposes to eat food which has a high amount of animal fat, compared with the middle and upper classes (Mennell, 199254).Besides, mess from poorer backgrounds dusterthorn understand that fresh food is healthier however, they could not give in to travel further to grease ones palms fresh food (Whelan, 2002 2083). in that respectfore they tended to purchase cheap quality food with a high fat heart, from close shops. 2006 The world-wide Journal of Urban Labour and Leisure 2 in that respect have been rapid changes in fo od consumption over the past few decades. Alan Warde, in his book, Consumption, Food & Taste suggested four theses for the changes in eating habits. Firstly, mountain have more freedom on the choice of food, only if are uncertain of what to eat.In modern society, we have a wider appreciation of food available to us. As technology is constantly improving, we are no longer restricted by the seasons and harvests, which had affected people previously (Beardworth, 200033). However, Claude Fischler saw this as an omnivores paradox (Warde, 199730). Human beings want a form to choose from however, they feel anxious and unsure ab out trying unseasoned foodstuffs. This can be further explained by the changing fantasy of food poverty. In the past, food poverty was referred to as overlook of food, under- nutrition (Adams, 200048).In the contemporary society, food poverty style overabundance of processed foods, inadequacy of balance diet (Adams, 200048). Before, we experienced under nut rition, and now, we converge from an unbalance diet. Although we whitethorn have more food than before, we do not know what to choose. This reflects the lack of education in healthy eating. The second thesis suggested that in a mass producing society, people would consume similar crops and gradually lose their identities. undivided producers tend to dominate particular industrial marketplaces, for example big brands wish McDonalds and Coca- poop target customers en mass.Mass food production can be explained by McDonaldisation, where customers experience the kindred look, same service, same products and same taste (Germov, 199912). This thesis is supported by a report by the Financial Times Exporter in 1995 (Adams, 200247). In the report, sextetty-five percent of people in China recognized the brand name Coca Cola and nearly half(a) of the people k brand-new big brands like Pepsi. This concluded that greathearted corporations mould our taste and have great control over our c hoice of food. One may argue that supermarkets bring a wider selection to people.In fact, some of the varieties are created by developing alternative forms of promotional material and storing methods, such as canned fish, frozen fish and fresh fish (Warde, 1997167). Therefore, we will enjoy many versions of the same products. In a broader view of the food industry, the five largest supermarkets in the UK, dominates seventy percent of the grocery market. (Adams, 200247) This large market pct led to the closure of many local stores. Single mothers or elderly people who live in rural areas will stand a further limitation of food due to the restriction on mobility and financial support (Whelan, 20022083).Since mass production has moulded our tastes and choices, consumers start losing their personal taste and identities. To react against this passive overpowering pattern, people are driven towards the post-Fordist view on consumption, which is the main focus of the third thesis. In t he post-Fordist reality, all commodities are stoped to be more consumer-orientated. As the consumers expenditure increases, they expect the quality of food to be higher. population require greater specialisation of the commodities in contrary markets.For example, McDonalds serves a different menu across the world to accommodate differing cultures with evident tastes. This is illustrated by McDonald f bed dispenseises in Germany, whom similarly serve beer as refreshment. Customers hope to buy food that serves their elicits and their local traditions. Businesses increase their pro cash in ones chipss and the consuming power by produce the right products for the targeted consumers. A more suitable product for the customers, equates to more purchases which in turn equates to more in deign. 2006 The International Journal of Urban Labour and Leisure 3.The final thesis describes the persistence of social differentiation. Warde uses Bourdieus theory to prove that food consumption i s a means of expressing distinction and has social meanings behind it. For example, class differences play a role in dictating eating habits. In this way, food consumption has more social meanings than a consume-to-survive model. In comparing the eating behaviour of manual workers and white collar workers, Bourdieu observed that clerical staff paid more vigilance to automobile trunk maintenance and slimness whilst manual workers, paid limited guardianship to their waistline.This observation is seen in France. In Britain, Warde suggested that class distinction in relation to food has been more obvious in recent decades. Finkelstein supports this idea by saying that dinning out is an expression of individuality, choice, spontaneity and that we select restaurants for food and price in ways which demonstrate our discrimination and what we cling to and desire (Beardsworth, 1997119). The interest of the media, increasing eating-out habits and foreign cuisines are becoming more common, food consumption has made a evidentiary distinction between classes.There is a clear line between the richer and the poorer, and who can afford to taste different types of food. These theses have helped us to understand the reasons behind changes in food consumption. strong food outlets are one of the popular choices for dinning out and have had a big impact on our food consumption. In the fol first-class honours degree gearing paragraph, the significant effects that fast food has on our choices of diet will be examined. A Fast Food Nation? Fast food culture has penetrated into our lives and influenced our eating habits. The fast food industry grew fast in the 1990s.In 1991, fast food had reached nineteen percent of the global consumer catering market (Tansey, 1995 133). From 1992 to 2003, expenditure spent on eating and drinking outside home has increased by 89. 9 per cent. (Website 1) These food shops show roast complainer, pizza, and so forth However, there is a limited cho ice of food and virtually of them have a high fat content (Millstein, 1993 220). Excessive consumption predisposes individuals to a great swop of health problems in later life. Foods high in fats can cause high blood pressures, cancer, atherosclerosis and heart disease.In recent years, the increase in consciousness of healthy eating has force the fast food chains to change their menu in rate to survive. For example, McDonalds now offers a new menu which includes green salad, carrot burns and a fresh fruit pack. This was done in response to public concern some the nutritionary prises of its food, following the film Supersize Me. This programme follows Morgan Spurlock who lived on nothing tho McDonalds for an entire month. Spurlock risked his health the sake of this project and it government issueed in numerous visits to the doctor. (Website 2) Increasingly, fast food chains have started to advertisewith the belief of light or low fat meals. As a customer, we are often misl ed by these statements and believe that the low fat meal is a healthier option. The Times un examinationedspaper compared the fat content and the price of a standard burger with a yellowed caesar salad. (Website 3) With regards to the price, the salad costs twenty nine pence more than a Big Mac. Data shows that a chicken salad with dressing and croutons contains 21. 4g of fat, whereas a standard burger only contains 7. 7g of fat. Even adding a portion of chips to the burger will result in a smaller amount of fat (16. 7g) than the salad.(Website 3) One may think that the salad dressing causes the high fat content of the salad however, this is not true. 2006 The International Journal of Urban Labour and Leisure 4 From the McDonalds website, a chicken caesar salad without a dressing still contains more fat than a burger. (Website 4) another(prenominal) shocking data is the saltiness content of the crispy chicken ranch salad is more than half of the Governments recommended daily fo rfeitance of 6g. (Website 4) Therefore, the salad which seems like a healthier option to the consumer is in fact more high-ticket(prenominal) and less healthy than a burger.Other than fast food chains, consumers can purchase fast food from the supermarkets. Ready meals, frozen or canned food can be categorized as fast food (Millstone, 2003 94). With the invention of the microwave, pass water meal culture has been further developed. There was a rapid increase in the sale of microwaves from five million in 1981 to seventy million in 2000 (Milldstone, 2003 94). Microwaves enable food to be ready within minutes whereas it may take at least half an hour to reach a meal using the oven. In 1997, an Australian newspaper demonstrated how different social classes chose different fast foods (Germov, 1999 137).Wealthier and advantageously educated people believed that choosing takeaway foods such as Thai and Nipponese are higher in nutrition (Germov, 1999 137). On the other hand, people in the lower socioeconomic state tended to consume food with a high fat and salt content, for example, pizzas and burgers. Therefore, we could find nutritional underclass with distinct eating patterns (Germov, 1999 137). Nutritional underclass refers to the difficulty of lower socioeconomic groups in making choices about food and diet. This is turn leads to a poor nutritional intake.By comparing different consumption patterns of takeaway food between people in different classes, two features have been developed. Firstly, fast food is consumed and well developed in all classes provided wealthier people tend to have more choices available to them. Besides, most fast food does not provide the consumer with balanced nutritional values that we need from a meal. That is a reason why the public label fast food as unhealthy food. Our food consumption patterns are affected by different media in our society.These are a powerful way of educating the public with the knowledge of what is healthy to eat and how to eat healthy. The following paragraphs examine the effectiveness of the healthy eating promotions. Health Promotion (By Government, Media, Food Industries). Different groups have time-tested to promote healthy eating in their own distinct ways. several(prenominal) groups take control over our choices of food and actively promote healthy eating. These include the Government departments, the food industries and the media. The progress and the effectiveness of the healthy eating promotion campaigns within these sectors will now be examined.The Governments the dominant enforcement body has introduced many healthy eating promotion initiatives to push the nation to eat more healthily. Its aim is to enforce regulations on food production in a bid to prevent illness (Mennell, 199240), so as to reduce the costs and burden on National Health Service. The Government has come a long way on the healthy eating campaign. The offspring that some of 2006 The International Journal of Urban Labour and Leisure 5 our diets are responsible for certain diseases such as cancer, new food policies were created to improve and promote healthy eating (Baggott 2000,168).From the early 1970s onwards, the Government became more aware of the publics diet and delimitate up several organizations such as the Committee on the Medical Aspects of Food and Policy (COMA), the National Advisory Committee on Nutrition training (NACNE) and the Joint Advisory Committee on Nutrition Education. (Baggott, 2000136) Their look out onion was to provide nutritional advice to the public and promote healthy eating. (Beardsworth, 2000136) However, the Government departments interference with the work of these organisations resulted in little success being achieved (Baggott 2000170).With the increasing public interest in health and food safety in the 1990s, the Labour Government introduced tougher policies on food and health when they came to power in 1997 (Baggott, 2000175). The Food Standar ds representation (FSA) has been authorized a new set of powers to give nutrition guidelines and labelling advice. The FSA recommended six grams of salt per day and wanted to introduce the colourcoded system on off-the-peg foods, so customers could identify the fat, salt and sugar content of the food by the labels.The FSA believes that specific seasoning contained within the food, will determine whether it is healthy or not. Food with a low salt, fat and sugar content is considered to be healthy by the FSA. (Website 5) The colour-coded system will show consistency for all food packaging therefore, it is easier for eitherone, including children, to recognize the foods which are considered to be healthy and also reduces any confusion. In February 2004, the National Health Service (NHS) published a free booklet called Five a Day Made at large(p) to promote a healthier lifestyle.(Website 1) It believes that eating five portions of fruit or vegetable per day, is eating healthily. The refore, the Government considers fruit and vegetables as the key cistron of healthy food. In November 2004, the FSA put forward the traffic light labels to the in the public eye(predicate) Health White Paper. (Website 7) However, there are a lot of pressures around this recommendation. The food and farming industries were worried that full labelling indicating the fat, sugar and salt content will increase their cost and cause restriction on their selling strategies.(Baggott 2000171) Moreover, the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) who is the largest representative of the food and drink manufacturing companies pointed out that the traffic light labels are too simplistic, subjective and potentially misguide. (Website 8) Rather than help consumers fit the labelled food into a balanced diet, it is likely that they will simply view the food as unattackable or dismiss it as bad. There are pressures that prohibit the Government from implying more regulation on food labels.Since the clos ure of food industries do not simply lead to less food choices, but also a great deal of job losses and plunging of the economy, the Government is ask to think carefully about the implications of new regulations and whether the new citywide food label would working on not. The media also plays an important role in promoting healthy eating concepts. The term media refers to television, radio, poster advertisements, and newspaper and magazine obligates. With the medias wide spread of power, the issues they brought up helped to give information on diets quickly.However, it is elusive whether all the media are impartial and helpful in improving our diets. Since most of the media 2006 The International Journal of Urban Labour and Leisure 6 relied on the advertising revenues to survive, concerns are made to the effect of their advertisers (Tansey, 1995183). In the advertising aspect, American children watch 20,000 commercials a year where at least 10,000 of them are food products. (M illstein 1993219) In Britain, food industries have spent forty billion every year on advertising (Millstone, 2003 98).Food advertisements are wide spread on television, magazines, radio, internet and posters on the street. most(prenominal) of the advertised products are brand and processed. More importantly, compared with the perishable food, they are high in sugars, refined starches, fats and added salt (Millstone, 200398). These advertisements persuade consumers to buy more. Food products such as chocolates and crisps are promoted to the puerile market (Conner, 2002120). Children consume the confectionaries between meal times which lead them to miss out their meals, consequently, not acquiring enough nutrition (Dobson, 199419).The effects of advertisements are powerful, but not always helping to promote healthy eating ideas. Media can be a direct tool to help the public understand the scientific reports and learn about food safety and what is healthy to eat. However, sometimes t he headlines of the news reports are misleading and exaggerated. One of examples is the headline from New York Times Low fat diet does not cut health risks, where that heading is referring to a study of women aged fifty to seventy-nine years old with respect to breast cancer research (Newsweek, March 2006).People who do not read the details will presume that low fat diet is useless in maintaining health, whereas if you read the whole article one will find out that low fat diet does not reduce your risk of breast cancer. The media penetrates every household and although it index not always guide the public on healthy foods, they are definitely helping to shape the future food consumption patterns. Food industries and the retailers produce and sell the food. Food industries promote their products in a healthy manner only because of the markets need.The major concern of a food business is to make profit. There is a limit on how much a person can eat and consume, therefore the genera l demand for food will not increase much. However, the food industries can further expand their market and make more profit by adding value to fresh food and turning them into commodity honourables such as canned food, frozen food etc (Warde, 1997191). Food processors have a set of ingredients to add-value, they are sugar, starch, fat and flavourings (Tansey, 1995111). Consequently, processed food is not as healthy as raw food.In order to fulfil the customers health desires, supermarkets use healthy eating as one of their promotional strategies. Tesco has improved their family image by initiating healthy eating and has launched food labels on its retail products (Murcott, 1998119). Although its original aim was to increase profit, it did arouse peoples attentions to eat healthier. On one hand, the supermarkets are promoting healthy eating on the other hand, they develop all sort of processed food such as chilled and ready meals at the same time to exploit another market. Most supe rmarkets have developed their own branded products.This is to enlarge their market share rather than providing customers with a wider choice. One of the examples is chilled ready-meals where this kind of product was completely new in 1980s (Murcott, 1998119). Marks and Spencer, as a pioneer, developed this market. By the 1990s, this market was worth over tierce hundred million pounds per annum 2006 The International Journal of Urban Labour and Leisure 7 (Murcott, 1998119). These ready-meals are one of the processed foods with added salt and sugar. With confusing food labels on the packaging, consumers can but calculate how much salt they consume.Since the central aim of food manufacturers and retailers are to make profit, their intention to promote healthy eating is not persuade enough. There is still a baffling question of what to eat is value for money and good for health (Jenkins, 1991 54). Do We Have a extract to Eat Healthy? Although we are responsible for looking after ou r own health, the public, private and voluntary sectors have directed our choice of food. Our choices of food are affected by social, cultural and political factors rather than individuals preference. Social factors include class, age, family backgrounds considerations.The direct social-economical restriction of our choice of food is the amount of money we have available to spend on food. Jenkins supports this idea by noting that knowledge is a source of consumer power, but only when you have got money to spend (Jenkins, 199172). Our choices of food are based on the amount of wealth. He pointed out that poorer people tended to pay more for food. This is not only due to the limitation of transport, but due to the amount of product they could afford to buy (Jenkins, 1991 74). Small purchases are more expensive compare with bulk sales. Poor people suffer from the consequences of supermarket sale strategy.For example, the price for two packs of chicken thighs is 148 pence per pound, whi lst the price for eight packs of chicken thighs is 135 pence per pound (Jenkins, 199173). Customers will get a better deal if they buy products in bulk. This illustrates that poor people know how to eat healthily, but they cannot afford to do so. Other than getting food that is not value for money, poor people suffer the fact that they know what is good for them but cannot afford to purchase it. For poor people, food expenditure is elastic and pay for other bills to maintain the living is more important (Murcott, 1998177).Cutting the food budget is the most direct way to save money. Therefore, even though elevates know that fresh juice is more nutritional than squash, they can do nothing about it. At the end of the day, even if the government has successfully promoted the healthy eating concept to the public, certain people still do not eat healthily due to the financial constraints. Different age groups have various food consumption patterns. The elderly prefer to stick with the traditional food for instance roast meat, whereas young people latch on new things such as rice or curries easily (Murcott, 1998175).There is a rapid development of convenience food, but it does not needfully mean that people in all age groups enjoy more choices to eat healthy. The elderly is an example that demonstrates a negative perception on fast food and ready-meals and they believe that home-cooked food is healthier. Therefore, a larger digress of processed products do not mean a greater choice of food for everyone. Our eating habits are also constructed by the environment in which we grow up. Therefore, our families have a direct effect on our diet.A research was carried out in the early 1980s, on all major aspects of family food provision and consumption (Rodmell, 198673). This study found that the role of the lady of the house did not 2006 The International Journal of Urban Labour and Leisure 8 automatically give you the power to make a decision of what to check for me als. Surprisingly, most housewives claimed that they would cook whatever their husbands liked, in order to please them. Some wives claimed that even though they did not like the unhealthy diets, they would still cook it for their husbands to reward them for a long working day.As a child, there was less choice they had to eat what was given to them. As a result, our tastes of food are customized by the working men. Recently, with the increasing number of single parent households, where many of them are either unemployed or earn a small amount of money, the choice of food perseveres to the individuals who purchase food for the rest of the family. Cultural differences affect our choices of food and whether we know how to eat healthily with our ethnicity backgrounds and traditions.There is a diversity of health implications and how people define healthy choices among different cultures. People have their own traditions in choosing and cooking food. One size fits all health education pr ogrammes do not fit all the ethnics. One of the examples is that in Chinese traditions, food is divided in to yang (hot) and yin (cold), where eating yang food when our body is in yins condition and vice versa (Germov, 1999150). Therefore, the health professionals have to study the background of minority groups and teach them to eat healthily without spoiling their culture.To familiarise the ethnic minority groups with the nutrient value, specialists about particular cultures are required to educate the minority group with healthy eating knowledge. There have been a few changes in food labelling policy, but these regulations have never requested manufacturers to provide a comprehensive nutrition label. As a customer, we have the right to know what kind of ingredients are in the processed food that we are consuming. However, food industries remain powerful and can keep the customers in ignorance.The Health Education trust performed a survey with regards to food labels in the early 1 990s (Hea, 199619). In this survey, twenty five percent of the informants have never read the nutritional information on food packages. This shows that the food label is important in directing food choices, as three quarters of those questioned follow counselor-at-law from the nutritional advice. Therefore, providing a comprehensive label on food packaging is essential. In recent years, a great deal of new products has had thievish slogans on them, such as low fat, freshly squeezed, and no artificial additives (Jenkins, 199143). For example, olestra is a type of oil used to produce low fat products.However, it brings significant side effects such as ab cramps when we consume it in large amounts (Germov, 1999303). As a customer, reading the food label is not sufficient to conclude whether a particular product is healthy or not, we have to under the meaning behind these low fat products. In a food market where food labels are not universal and some of the packaging is misleading, t here is no way to ensure that the product we choose is healthy.Knowing what is healthy is not good enough for the contemporary food market, consumers also have to learn and taking into custody the meanings behind the food labels. Therefore, understanding how to eat healthily is important, but regulations on food labels are also essential. 2006 The International Journal of Urban Labour and Leisure 9 Methodology. Research Aim There are a few aims for this research. This study aims to explore perceptions on the healthy eating concept and review the reasons behind peoples choice of food.Furthermore, it seeks to examine knowingness of Government policies on healthy eating promotion. It is also important to examine the reliability of food labels and the popularity of fast food culture. Semi-structured Interviews. It is important to see if there is a correlation between the literatures in chapter one and the research I do, therefore, selecting an appropriate way to carry out this researc h is essential. Semi-structured interviews were held on a one-to-one basis where interviewees were given a few topics to discuss. This interview consisted of three main parts.Part A is concerned about the interviewees healthy eating concepts and their view of contemporary eating culture. By understanding how they defined a healthy diet, participants were asked to review their food consumption habits, restrictions on food shop and their opinion on fast food culture. In the final of the interview, I enquired about their knowledge on Government policies and supermarket promotions on healthy eating. This research aimed to understand peoples view and opinion rather than to test their knowledge and numerical data. Therefore, it is more suitable to use a qualitative approach.Qualitative research helps to develop interviewees personal opinions and experiences for this research. The research is based on one-to-one semi structured interviews, which allows me to have more freedom in developing the interview and pursue further questions in response to the replies get (Bryman, 2004543). Each interview lasted approximately an hour in order to allow interviewees to express themselves fully. In order not to interfere with the interview, I did not express my opinions on the topics. I guided the discussions with the same topic questions for everyone.