Many elements interact to influence the health status of individuals. The conditions and surroundings in which people live dictate whether or not they are healthy. A person’s social setting, heredity, education, income level, and state of mind all significantly affect health. However, more generally recognized variables like the availability and usage of hospital services typically have little influence. Zacharias’ book, Eat for the planet, provides crucial insights on nutrition that can be applied in understanding the concept of determinants of health.
While the main motivator for eating is hunger or appetite, what people eat is not completely dictated by nutritional or physiological requirements. Several additional elements that influence food selection include biological, economic, educational, physical, social, and other psychological determinants, including beliefs about food. These factors are consistently associated with the various determinants of health. In chapter three, Zacharias argues that most of the food humans eat produced by 12 plants and five animal species (Zacharias & Stone, 2018). In other words, if humans can diversify their food sources, they can solve world hunger and hunger-related diseases.
Likewise, in chapter eight, Zacharias recommends replacing vegetables, grains, and plant proteins like lentils, nuts, seeds, and beans from different animal proteins with plant-based meals (Zacharias & Stone, 2018). These chapters are essential because they relate to the debate on determinants of health.
However, the food choice is complex and making such a transition cannot happen overnight. The determinants of health consistently influence food choices for individuals in many societies. From a biological viewpoint, an individual may have the incentive to eat vegetables or plant-based meals to save the environment while craving high-calorie meals. Ultimately, that person is more likely to eat to fulfill his appetite for saving the planet. Economic determinant relates to one’s source of income hence the range of food that he can access. Low-income populations are more likely to eat unbalanced meals. Such meals tend to have no fruit and vegetables as supplements. Nonetheless, having more finances does not inevitably translate into a higher-quality diet, although the variety of meals available may expand.
Likewise, education can affect eating behavior in adulthood. By comparison, nutritional knowledge and healthy eating behaviors do not have a substantial correlation. This can be attributed to a lack of consensus regarding what is considered healthy or unhealthy food. For example, some people may argue that Zacharias’ insights in Eat for the planet are merely opinions without solid scientific backing. Similarly, social factors such as cultural context, such as community’s beliefs about a particular food, or social influences such as peers or family, may influence what people choose to eat. Case in point, Muslims do not eat pork because it is considered unholy. An individual is also more likely to maintain specific diets because he grew up in a family or society that embraced them.
What this means is that determinants of food choice are directly related to determinants of health. Zacharias provides important knowledge about healthy food that can have positive impacts on the planet. However, he fails to consider that the adoption of such food choices depends on the factors examined above. These factors affect individuals differently; thus, it is impractical to suggest that saving the planet through sustainable nutrition is a personal responsibility. In other words, saving the planet through changing eating habits is a community responsibility. This conversation must be held while recognizing that people choose to eat particular foods based on various social, economic, psychological, biological, and environmental factors.
Reference
Zacharias, N., & Stone, G. (2018). Eat for the planet: Saving the world one bite at a time. Abrams.