Healthy Food Choice and Dietary Behavior in the Elderly

Abstract

Eating is like breathing: inevitable and a requirement for survival. However, unlike breathing, which functions automatically and is geared by reflexes, eating behavior is far more complex. Eating is far more than simply providing the body with nutrients. Addressing the issues of aging and dietary behavior requires consulting a multitude of disciplines and examining a wide range of research topics and studies. We assume that it will require both a natural science approach and a social science approach; the two approaches adhere to different paradigms, methods, and research designs and therefore different foci. We denote that aging, nutrition, physiological needs, and nutrients are part of a natural science paradigm and that getting old, eating, meals, and an eating biography refer to everyday life events and a social science paradigm. Dietary or eating behavior in the elderly thus nurtures both paradigms, yet in this chapter we will focus on the social science aspects. Humans tend to eat what they are used to eat denoting and what they have learned to like. Food behavior is learned behavior and highly reflects routines and habits, reinstitutionalizing an ongoing process of dietary habits each day. This chapter will look at biographical and cultural factors contributing to and shaping our daily food choices and eating behaviors. We start by addressing what we know from literature and then present two studies we conducted to learn more about biographical and intergenerational factors contributing to food behaviors.