Social Determinants of Food Choice: Impact of Income and Social Status

NAME OF THE STUDENT
NAME OF THE COLLEGE
PHOTO ESSAY
“BAD FOOD CHOICES”

Bad choices in the food products are not just a result of our taste or tongue, but also a choice
based on various personal and social determinants. Health is affected by the food consumed by
the person but it is also influenced by factors, such as, social status and income, employment,
education, physical environment, behaviour and their access to the services. Out of all the
possible determinants which influence the choice of food a person consumes, the most important
one is their income structure and social status.
Talking about the income structure, a person tends to eat healthier food if his/her income allows
them to afford it. People with a low income structural base are more prone towards diseases and
unhealthy conditions because of the low availability of clean and healthy food. Not just the
affordability of food, but also living conditions of people, adds to the healthy environment
structure for people.
Social status on the other hand can act both the ways, positive and negative, when it comes to the
choice of food made by a group. Children and youth are affected by the social status amongst
their friends and colleagues. Hence, the group chooses to go for unhealthy foods and beverages
in order to walk in par with the other people in the group. Whereas, people from older ages, who
are mature enough to understand the benefits of healthy food, will choose to stay away from
unhealthy food habits in order to match their standards of maturity with other people.
People with lower incomes are often associated with stress and risks, whereas, the higher income
category live in conditions with healthier resources available to them. Studies have shown that
the lower incomes group do not have enough money to spend on taking care of personal hygiene,
whether it choosing for healthy foods or paying to the doctor for a medical treatment. Safe
housing, clean air, exercise opportunities and better knowledge are a few resources available to
higher income people (World Health Organization & Commission On Social Determinants Of
Health, 2008).
Keeping the picture in mind, we can see how the second photograph with junk food in it, attracts
us and creates a sensation of the food. And also, the first picture with the healthy food does not
excite us to consume it. This sensation is a result of our sensory pleasure that we get after
thinking of the junk food (Wiesław Kurlej, Król, & Neurocentrum, Turowski Krzysztof, 2017) .
When a person focuses on health while choosing the category of food, the first picture would
create more impact on his/her mind. This impact can only be followed if a person is capable of
buying healthy food and have available resources to accomplish the health goal. This shows that
income plays an important role in choosing the right thing for ourselves. It is the basic need of
money that assists us in determining the right food for us (Theodossiou & Zangelidis, 2009).
Food choice has great impact of the social determinants and this is can be found in the situations,
where a person is sitting with a group of friends, then he/she is much more attracted to the
unhealthy food so as to maintain the social status amongst the group of friends. This shows that