Human Nutrition

FOOD HABITS ❚
TABLE 2.3
Core, secondary and peripheral foods
Core foods Secondary foods Peripheral foods
The most important foods in Enhance the meal, but not Non-essential, but pleasant to eat
the diet – the staple of the essential
region (normally a cereal or
a root)
Usually one or two foods only May have specific perceived Special occasion foods, e.g. eaten
(in Britain: bread/cereals and properties (e.g. protein-rich, at festivals, celebrations (e.g.
potatoes) healthy, promoting balance, turkey at Christmas or
suitable for particular ages/ Thanksgiving, birthday cake)
conditions in life)
Tend to appear in most meals May include meat/fish, Food with special properties, e.g.
vegetables, pulses, fruit bedtime drinks
Nutritionally, a source of
May include biscuits, cakes
carbohydrate, some protein and
confectionery, alcoholic drinks,
a range of minerals and vitamins
exotic fruit, sauces, drinks,
e.g. tea/coffee
Activity 2.3
Make a list of your food intake over the previous
few days. For each food, identify to which of the
categories in Table 2.3 it belongs.
■ Which of the categories appears most
frequently?
■ Are your meals made up of all three categories?
■ What about your snacks?
among the Hindus. These are considered further
in Chapter 13.
Physiological factors
Appetite is associated with memories of particular
foods, and is the desire for a specific food or
foods. In animals, there is some evidence that
such desires for particular foods are linked to a
specific nutritional need. This is very difficult to
demonstrate in humans and has, therefore, not
been proven. The opposite is an aversion to a
specific food; this is often linked to an unpleasant
memory of that food or an experience associated
with it.
Personal preferences for foods are usually
linked to a liking for the sensory attributes of the
food, which contribute to the pleasure of eating
it. Liking a food is frequently given as the main
reason for choosing it; however, people will eat
foods they feel neutral about, or even dislike
in certain circumstances, for example, to please
others. Most people select their food from a
relatively small number of items that appear
frequently in their diet. New foods may be tried
on occasions, often as a result of advertising or
promotion of the product in the media. The
wealthier members of society include more variety
in their choices than those on a low income.
Compared with traditional hunter–gatherer societies,
who would eat a wide range of wild products
from the land at different seasons, our
Western diet is quite limited.
Children are considered to be the age group
most reluctant to diversify their diet, with some
individuals eating so few foods that they threaten
their nutritional status.
Because of the importance of personal preference
in making food choice, it is important
that individuals are allowed to exercise some
control over what is eaten. Loss of control can
lead to loss of appetite. This can be a reason for
poor intakes in hospitalized patients or residents
in other institutions, where menus are centrally
determined, perhaps repetitive and little choice
is offered.
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