Food: Sophistication of concerns

In spite of its devastating effects, in the developed world the food crisis has been barely perceptible. However, developed countries are not spared from concerns. It’s just that their concerns are more sophisticated, Cristina Viehmann writes for ISN Security Watch.

The spoiling of consumers in developed countries is not only reflected in the abundantly produced food - a large amount of which ends up binned - but also by their concerns. The awareness, be it egoistic or altruistic, of the modern consumer has risen considerably during the past years. Egoistic preoccupations include personal health, while community-oriented concerns focus more on ecological considerations.

Because of the rising rate of obesity and diseases caused by unbalanced nutrition, consumers wish to be informed about the exact nutritional content of the food on their plates. But in developed countries personal health involves more than just concerns about the quality of products. The consumer, having his vital health and taste needs fulfilled, develops new sophisticated wishes that go beyond the basic nutritional functions of ingredients. Health-promoting foods are the results of those wishes. Also called functional food or medicinal food, they are much appreciated for their disease-preventing properties.

In view of this, the probiotics phenomenon deserves to be highlighted. During the past few years we have learned that a diary product labeled LC1, such as Nestlé's yoghurts, does us good, despite the oddity of its name. Even if we normally do not like ingredients we can not pronounce (such as Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium or Bifidus), we have included them in our nutritional vocabulary. We have allowed probiotics, the so-called friendly bacteria, to enter our menus and help us with our digestion.

Another noticeable tendency that has to do with personal health care in developed countries is that of food labeling for nutritional facts. Some argue that labeling regulations reflect the right of consumers to have the correct information on the products they wish to buy. Others, however, think that labeling is just another step towards more state interventionism in the private realm.

Labeling goes beyond pre-packaged foods. In January 2008 New York passed a law requiring restaurants to declare the number of calories in their menus. It was the first American city to do so, while other US cities followed. Even though the complaints of the US restaurant industry were loud, those who knew how to adapt to the new regulations seem to have benefited. In the end, it can even be profitable to adapt to the new rules by eliminating items rich in calories on the menus.

Due to the globalization and anonymization of production consumers also wish to know where their products are coming from and under what conditions they have been harvested, manufactured and transported. And this is where concerns go beyond personal health considerations. The growing numbers of ecologically sensitive buyers increasingly care about issues such as fair-trade, farmers' markets, eco-food labeling or food packaging.

When it comes to the future of nutrition tendencies, as in so many different cases, the US can be regarded as a trendsetter. After two major scientific theories - the Dr Atkins low-carbohydrates solution of the 1970s and the low-fat spree of the 1980s - failed to convince US consumers, the public now wishes to be left to its own devices.

Consumers are tired of being blamed for their lack of will power in the face of fatty foods or their failure to exercise. It can be argued that they do not wish to have public health authorities providing them with guidance and that there is an ongoing responsibility recovery taking place as well as a trend to a more personalized food. What the public now trusts is not general truths, which have so often emerged as myths. The new trend is towards a more individualized nutrition.

The essence of a personalized diet lies in the genes. On the one hand, genetic information is increasingly being examined by scientists in the disciplines of nutrition and food science, food components being prime factors that affect the genome. On the other hand, the personalization of diets becomes actively employed by consumers themselves, their motto being: "Know yourself in order to know what to eat."

People are increasingly basing their work-out and nutrition habits on metabolic finger-prints. Today the Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), the amount of energy expended while at rest, can be measured by small purchasable accessories, private gym trainers or even estimated online. Metabolism is now recognized as the critical factor in achieving a healthy lifestyle, making education or persuasion employed by state institutions less important. People are aware that one rule can not fit all and that two people with the same habits can experience very different results, because their metabolic fingerprints are different.

But even within the phenomena of personalizing nutrition and lifestyle choices there appears to be a tendency of shifting responsibility from individuals back to a higher but still private level. This higher level is that of companies providing health and nutrition recommendations based on an individual's diet, lifestyle and genetic profile. Private health and weight management programs might still sound futuristic to some ears, but such systems are actually already in place and well functioning in Canada and the US.

The sophisticated concerns of the developed world reflect societal changes and trends taking place such as individualization and new-ecology. Each of these trends bears its food-related pendant concept: individualized nutrition, product labeling or organic food.

Developed countries are indeed appealing to fashionable tastes and trendy habits, but at the same time, the sophistication of these concerns has the potential to prompt change. This would require making use of complex knowledge in research and development as well as integrating advanced technology into food production. There is certainly a positive side of food trends in the developed world: Caring about seed bank sustainability or the pure notion of eco-regionalism are luxuries the developed countries can and should translate into action.

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