Nutritional Risk Factors Across Cultures, Research Paper Example

Abstract

As beliefs vary across cultures, so do nutritional behaviors. In many cases, high-risk nutritional behaviors are practiced as a result of culturally influenced spiritual or social beliefs. This essay explored cultural impacts on high-risk nutritional behaviors in more detail. The existence of such behaviors throughout different cultures was first discussed, as well as notable examples of cultures where such behaviors persist. Historical belief systems were also considered based on their influence on nutritional behaviors. Finally, individual influencing factors were discussed, including education, family roles, spiritual beliefs, health care practices, and drug and alcohol use. Based on the evidence presented within this essay, it is clear that culture plays a key role in shaping high-risk nutritional behaviors, and understanding these cultural influences may be beneficial for health care practitioners seeking to promote healthier dietary practices.

Introduction

Nutritional habits and behaviors vary from one culture to the next. As a result, risky nutritional habits, or those that are recognized as potentially adverse to one’s health, also have unique cultural underpinnings. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on these nutritional risk factors across cultures in more depth. Specifically, this paper will identify and explain high-risk nutritional behaviors practiced among various cultures. Historical belief systems will then be considered with respect to these nutritional practices. Finally, additional influential factors will be discussed, including education, family roles, spiritual beliefs, health care practices, and substance use. This paper concludes with a brief summary and outline of key points.

High-Risk Nutritional Behaviors

Each culture contains both healthy and unhealthy nutritional behaviors. These behaviors are shaped by factors such as food availability, socioeconomic status, belief systems, and additional influencing factors (Forth & Carden-Coyne, 2004). Obesity is one of the most common and unhealthy high-risk nutritional behaviors across the globe, with both Western and Eastern cultures showing particularly high rates of this pattern (Zimmerman, 2011). Obesity is considered an excessive accumulation of fat, and the behavior that drives this state is overconsumption of calories in the diet (Zimmerman, 2011). This overconsumption can result in increased risk of heart disease and diabetes (Anderson, 2014). The United States, China, India, Russia, and Brazil represent the most obese nations, as well as among the highest average consumptions of calories of all countries (Anderson, 2014).

United States, UK, and France

Western cultures also show high rates of anorexia nervosa and bulimia (Forth & Carden-Coyne, 2004). Anorexia nervosa is characterized by under-consumption of calories in the diet, rapid weight less, amenorrhea, and accompanying psychological problems (Thompson & Johnson, 2013). Countries that have the highest reported rates of anorexia nervosa include the United States, UK, and France (Thompson & Johnson, 2013). Similarly, bulimia nervosa is common among these countries. Anorexia nervosa increases the risk of heart failure, osteoporosis, and organ failure (Smink, van Hoeken, & Hoek, 2012). This high-risk nutritional behavior is characterized by recurrent patterns of binge eating followed by self-induced vomiting (Smink et al., 2012). Bulimia increases the risk of heart failure, gastric rupture, inflammation, tooth decay, bowel irregularity, and ulcers (Smink et al., 2012).

Middle East, North Africa, Southern Africa

Hypoglycemia is a condition characterized by extremely low blood sugar, and is common in cultures where food is scarce or fasting is common (Kalra, Balhara, & Mithal, 2013). These cultures include India, all nations in the Middle East and Northern Africa, as well as throughout Southern Africa (Kalra et al., 2013). This high-risk nutritional behavior can cause general muscular weakness, cognitive distortion, anxiety, and tremors (Kossoff et al., 2012). Severe cases can increase the risk of seizures and heart failure (Kossoff et al., 2012).  

Research on high-risk nutritional behaviors (e.g., Kossoff et al., 2012; Thompson & Johnson, 2013) has illustrated the role of culture in dietary practices and the necessity to understand these cultural influences to successfully modify unhealthy behaviors. Complete elimination of certain substances or dietary practices may conflict with cultural views, and the public health professional must balance the risks of dietary modification with potentially challenging these beliefs (Purnell & Paulanka, 2013). Table 1 presents a list of high-risk nutritional behaviors with 10 cultures where such behavior is found.

Historical Belief Systems

Cultural belief systems appear to have a strong impact on nutritional practices. Hunter (1973) presented an early view regarding nutrition and culture, referred to as the culture-nutrition hypothesis, which suggests that geography determines physiological needs within a population, thereby governing nutritional habits within a given region. Hunter argued that this assumption was the only one that could explain the vast cultural diversity represented in contemporary dietary practices. However, this hypothesis fails to account for nutritional behaviors that are seemingly paradoxical to biological and evolutionary need. For example, the overconsumption of energy seen in the West is widely recognized to increase the risk of multiple diseases and premature death (Anderson, 2014). Therefore, the perpetual engagement in such practices does not agree with strictly biological explanations of nutrition. It is clear that belief systems play a key role in shaping nutritional behaviors, including those that are high in risk.

Ancient Greece and Middle-Age Europe

In the West, obesity was once an indication of wealth and prosperity (Forth & Carden-Coyne, 2004). Paintings from Ancient Greece and Europe’s Middle Ages depict more robust women with greater curvature to be attractive than by today’s standards. Similarly, male obesity during within these cultures was also shown to represent resourcefulness and wealth (Forth & Carden-Coyne, 2004). In periods in which class separated food availability to such a degree that starvation was common, over-consumption of food was a desired practice among these cultures. The high rates of obesity that are now witnessed in these cultures may be explained by contemporary shifts in values (Zimmerman, 2011). As wealth has remained a valued trait amongst Western cultures throughout their history, these cultures now find themselves in states of high consumerism (Gilman, 2013). Though obesity is not seen as a desirable nutritional behavior in Western cultures, the emphasis on consumerism and the abundance of food allows for a situation in which over-eating is common (Zimmerman, 2011).

Modern Western Culture

Two staples of the Western diet, red meat and sodium, are widely believed to be contributing factors to the obesity epidemic that is witnessed throughout this region (Forth & Carden-Coyne, 2004). Feldman and Mayhew (1984) conducted a classic study exploring the cultural underpinnings of the consumption of these two substances. Results from this study demonstrated that affect served as the greatest predictor of behavioral intent, which determined the consumption of meat and sodium. This study illustrates the influence of affect in predicting behavioral intent, which is driven by culturally ingrained habits. Within hypoglycemic cultures, , the same explanation can be offered to predict the desire to refrain from consuming sufficient carbohydrates to support their energy needs. While the historical belief systems that impact these eating behaviors may differ from one culture to the next, it is evident that culture itself has a powerful influence on individuals’ habits and dietary affect (Kalra et al., 2013).

The precise historical beliefs that produce these nutritional behaviors vary with each culture (Purnell & Paulanka, 2013). However, researchers speculate that cultures in which female social roles are restricted demonstrate lower rates of eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia (Thompson & Johnson, 2013). This speculation would explain why these two disorders appear more frequently in European and American culture. While Middle Eastern and Asian cultures also experience some degree of these disorders, the cause of anorexia and bulimia within these non-Western cultures are more likely to be linked to environmental circumstances or religious observations (Thompson & Johnson, 2013). Western culture also possesses historical religious provocation of anorexic behavior, examples of which can be seen in the Middle Ages when thinness was believed to demonstrate spiritual purity (Smink et al., 2012).

Underdeveloped Nations

In many underdeveloped nations, plumpness is viewed as an attractive and desirable quality (Forth & Carden-Coyne, 2004). Particularly in women of these cultures, larger body size is viewed as a sign of fertility, motherliness, and prosperity. Therefore, some underdeveloped nations throughout Latin America and Africa experience higher-than-average rates of obesity. As with anorexia that is witnessed in Middle Eastern and Asian cultures, hypoglycemia is more frequent in underdeveloped nations where malnutrition or spiritual beliefs restrict dietary intake (Kalra et al., 2013). However, irrespective of the specific geographic region, it is clear that cultural views have a strong impact on nutritional behaviors and dietary practices (Purnell & Paulanka, 2013).

Influencing Factors

Within these cultural impacts on high-risk nutritional behavior are also individual influencing factors. These factors include education, family roles, spiritual beliefs, health care practices, and substance use. Each of these factors has been identified as having an influence on nutritional behaviors, as well as having the tendency to be shaped by cultural and historical belief systems. For example, education can influence cultural understanding of health risks associated with particular nutritional behaviors (Forth & Carden-Coyne, 2004). Similarly, family roles impact Latino culture, where more robust women are viewed as motherly and caring (Hu, 2011). Spiritual beliefs regarding gluttony can influence eating behaviors, while fasting represents a spiritual sacrifice in many cultures (Helman, 2014). Health care practices regarding dietary intervention, physical fitness, and medical treatments for nutrition disorders can influence nutritional behaviors, while substance use can greatly impact both the psychological desire to eat and the body’s ability to absorb nutrients (Helman, 2014).

A review by Barrera Jr., Castro, Strycker, and Toobert (2013) demonstrated education to have a significant impact on nutritional behaviors across different cultures. Cultures that lack information about the effects of diet on physical health, or do not possess the appropriate resources to maintain a healthy diet, are more likely to engage in high-risk nutritional behaviors (Barrera Jr. et al., 2013). In cultures in which resources are lacking, nutritional behaviors tend to revolve around the three macronutrients (i.e., fat, carbohydrates, and protein), as these are most essential to supplying energy (Helman, 2014). However, micronutrient intake is often insufficient in these cultures, as less attention is paid toward consuming foods that do not supply abundant energy, such as fruits and vegetables (Helman, 2014). Therefore, underdeveloped nations throughout Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America all feature diets that are rich in foods like rice, potatoes, and meat, but are limited in vegetables and fruits (Barrera Jr. et al., 2013).

Family roles and spiritual roles have been identified as having an impact on nutritional behaviors (Forth & Carden-Coyne, 2004). Throughout the world, plumpness is seen as a sign of fertility in women, and this family role dictates dietary practices (Hu, 2011). Spiritual beliefs regarding overconsumption of foods and refraining from certain substances (e.g., alcohol) also dictate nutritional behaviors in nearly every culture (Anderson, 2014). For example, there is a high degree of tolerance for alcohol consumption in Native American/American Indian culture due to its supposed spiritual underpinnings (Cordova, Trujillo, & Walker, 2013). However, Asian cultures are more inclined to view alcohol as an intoxicant that distracts from mental clarity (Cordova et al., 2013). While alcoholism can be observed in Asian cultures, rates are much lower for this region of the world than throughout the Americas and Europe (Helman, 2014). Finally, health care practices are influenced by cultural views, which can, in turn, impact nutritional behaviors. In African cultures, many foods are viewed as medicinal and used to treat common illnesses. Similarly, Western and European medical organizations provide specific guidelines for individuals of different ages and genders with respect to macronutrient and micronutrient consumption. These alternative medical models both illustrate culture’s impact on nutritional behaviors.

Conclusion

The purpose of this paper was to explore high-risk nutritional behaviors across different cultures. High-risk nutritional behaviors were first discussed, as well as examples of cultures where these high-risk nutritional behaviors exist. The influence of historical belief systems on these nutritional behaviors was then considered, and examples of these influences were presented. This essay then explored individual influencing factors, such as education, family roles, spiritual beliefs, health care practices, and drug and alcohol use. Based on the evidence presented within this paper, it is clear that culture has a strong influence on nutritional behaviors. As cultures vary in their spiritual and world beliefs, so do their dietary practices. In many cases, this influence contributes to high-risk nutritional behaviors that warrant attention by health care practitioners. Understanding the impact of culture in shaping these high-risk behaviors may be beneficial in devising preventative or treatment strategies.

References

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