Keywords

The Evolution of Food Choices

As time goes on, mankind has learnt to choose the most suitable foodstuffs for his survival. Many decisions have been taken on the basis of experience, and by observing phenomena, and in certain cases, have permitted us to integrate important nutritional principles into a system that was previously unknown, while in other cases, have cost us our life, or have brought about much suffering. However, mankind’s ability enabled him to move on from being a hunter to harvesting crops, discovering fire and eventually achieving an Agricultural Revolution after a very long period of time, to starting off cereal cultivation practices and livestock breeding. With time, population cultures, alongside habits and political and religious influences, have determined nutrition models that have been implemented up to our day and age. With the development of the food industry, the number of products realized and conservation times have increased notably, up to proposing typologies of foodstuffs with a high innovation content. If on the one hand the first studies at the basis of the transformation and conservation of foodstuffs date back a long time, just consider the studies conducted by Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794) on energetic metabolism or the introduction of appertization by Vinse Nicolas Appert (1749–1841), a baker who casually started using sealed containers to cook foods in, since he realized how the same foods lasted longer, on the other hand, those related to foodstuffs and their content are much more recent. In the course of history, we can count successes but also errors, like, for example those related to the discovery of vitamins and mineral salts, indispensable substances for the survival of the human organism, but whose theorization of etiology only took place in the course of 1900.Footnote 1 Much more recent are studies that evacuate the effects of foodstuffs on mankind’s state of health, and therefore nutrition science can only be in constant and continuous evolution. In Italian literature, the terms diet and nutrition are starting to find their own identity, as from the new millennium, even if they commonly continue being inappropriately confused and superimposed. In Anglo-Saxon literature, the two disciplines, food and nutrition, find their own distinct autonomy by really discussing food, when one wants to make reference to the food product , meaning any substance intended for human consumption.Footnote 2 Naturally, included in the definition is also chewing gum, and every ingredient or component used for the realization of products (FDA 2006). The study of food comprises the analysis of the nature, origin, quality, safety and conditions of production, use and commercialization.

The term nutrition means the science which interprets the relationship among nutrients and other substances present in foodstuffs, and maintenance of growth and reproduction, or an organism’s health status or illness. It includes intake, absorption, assimilation, synthesis, energetic metabolism, catabolism and breakdown of foodstuffs. According to the Committee on World Food Security, nutrition is “the consequence of the intake of food and the utilization of nutrients by the body. Good nutrition produces a healthy physical and physiological condition. It is secured when food intake, absorption and utilization provide all essential nutrients in required amounts. Poor nutrition produces an unhealthy physiological condition, and is caused by a lack of physical, economic, social or physiological access to the right amounts of dietary energy and nutrients. Consequences of poor nutrition can impair physical and mental development, reduce immunity, increase susceptibility to disease, decrease ability to work and reduce productivity. Since parasites, poor hygiene and diseases can compromise a person’s ability to absorb and biologically utilize the nutrients consumed, a safe food supply, clean drinking water, sanitary environment, adequate health, education and care, are essential for good nutrition, along with a balanced diet . Optimal nutrition supports development in obtaining each individual’s full genetic potential” (CSF 2012). In other words, the term nutrition refers to the organism’s needs, and the study of the effects on the recipient subject of that which he takes in, in terms of foodstuffs. The two terms are linked by the composition of the diet that each individual chooses on a daily basis, and it is based on a series of traditional foodstuffs, subdivided per category on the basis of origin and composition, or rather, the prevailing nutritional element. The categories of traditional products being:

  • milk and derivatives (predominantly sources of protein and calcium);

  • meats, fish, by-products and legumes (predominantly sources of protein, vitamins and iron);

  • cereals and by-products (predominantly sources of starch, fiber and vitamins);

  • condiment fats (predominantly sources of essential fatty acids and vitamins)

  • fruit and vegetables (predominantly sources of fiber, vitamins and mineral salts).

In Italy, the nutrition model is predominantly well grounded on principles of the Mediterranean diet , even if in the past few years, the phenomenon of globalization has noticeably reduced territorial diversities, biodiversity and reference to a specific habitat (Lucchin and Caretto 2012). It results in the fact that while maintaining its validity, by virtue of the relationship with the reduction of cardiovascular illnesses, it should no longer be considered an absolute model. The most diffused reference for food choices is surely the Pyramid, worked out by the Food and Drug Administration in 1992, and revised in 2005. In the first version, the products placed at the basis of consumption are those which can be used more frequently, like bread, pasta, rice and cereals, on a higher level, fruit and vegetables, with a slight preference towards the latter, at a higher level still, milk, yoghurt and derivatives, together with meat, fish and nuts, and finally at the top of the pyramid, fats, oils and sweets, to be consumed sparingly. After this first version of the food Pyramid, new versions came into being aimed at introducing physical activity, which if done regularly, makes up an optimal adjuvant in maintaining good health and eliminating the hierarchical structure that is especially disliked by meat producers, milk and derivatives (Welsh et al. 1992; Haven et al. 2006). A brief summary of the nutrition evolution with time, prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA 2011) is referred to in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1 A brief history of USDA Food Guides
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The food guidelines suggest the optimal way of including foods in a daily diet system, but we should not forget that purchasing is influenced by multiple socio-demographic and cultural variables, the first being that we are reminded about the increase in average life expectancy of individuals, which pushes towards foodstuffs with a high healthy content, the change in family structure with the progressive reduction of components that induced to purchasing single serving packages and foods with a high service content. There are also changes in work models, dual career families, longer and longer travelling times involving a reduction in the time taken up for cooking, and a de-responsibilization of the feminine figure in managing shopping needs and preparing meals. Finally, the ever increasing phenomenon of migration influxes brings about a multi-varied ethnic composition, with a progressive impact on the diffusion of innovative products (cous cous, kebab, kamut, etc.). From a socio-cultural point of view, the influencing factors are adhering to new and more sustainable models of consumption, which foresee the choice of biological products, at zero km—local production, in other words, typical to fair trade. Even the search for a subjective wellbeing brings about a change in food choice, driving the consumer towards quality products with a high nutritional content (nutraceutical, functional, etc.) in search of material wellbeing. The immaterial values are based on hedonistic levers, of belong-ing, experiences of high symbolic value, and drive one to choosing selected foods, such as, for example slow food or defence foods (Bittner and Kulesz 2015). Finally, there is a whole series of individual factors of a sensorial origin, nutritional, and of a psycho-physiological nature, linked to the organoleptic characteristics of the foodstuff, in other words, the marketing and health levers. On the basis of ever increasing requests from consumers and new nutrition needs, the food industry has studied and put into production lighter foods, or foods with a reduced content of substances considered harmful to our health, and it has created new more and more elaborate food categories, ranging from light food to strength acquiring foods, from functional new generation neutracetics which will find proper collocation in schemes, and nutrition guides with time. (Nestle 2013).

The Meaning of the Term “Diet ”

The term diet derives from the Greek δίαιτα (dìaita) Footnote 3 meaning “kind, diet, lifestyle” and indicates the composition of foodstuffs on man’s side, able to satisfy specific energetic and nutritional needs. With time, the term took on different meanings, and can be used to indicate a limitation of nutrition intake to obtain weight reduction (low-calorie diet), a reduction of a few substances having a therapeutic scope (low-salt diet), a typology of foods that a person habitually consumes (vegetarian or vegan diet), in other words, addition of calories or specific elements (high-calorie or high-calcium diet). In developed societies, the topic of nutrition has become subject matter for special attention in relation to needs, which can guarantee populations and single individuals the highest level of wellbeing, considering the diffused abundance of foods on the one hand, and the need to use them properly on the other, so as to avoid pathologies linked to overeating. For this reason, the present volume insists on evaluation modalities of individual needs in the first part, to subsequently placing them into a system with availability in the market, offered on a daily basis by the food industry, and evaluating how and in what measure existing products are able to respond to real needs of every individual, the term diet will be used as a synonym to a proper healthy and balanced nutrition.

From “Food” to “Nutrition Principles ” and “Nutrient ”

To feed himself, man takes resources from the natural environment of which he is part. The link between man and nature is very close and exposed to natural cycle trends, seasonal and weather patterns. In industrialized countries, food availability does not constitute a limiting factor since intensive breeding and farming techniques, together with improvement of conservation methods have permitted to obtaining the necessary quantity to satisfy population needs, apart from the seasonal nature of production. In case of insufficient availability of food, an intense import flow by producer countries is foreseen. Therefore, we can distinguish two fundamental concepts, food security, intended as the need to guarantee populations sufficient access to food availability, linked to the quantitative disproportion between North and South in the world, defined by FAO as “A situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Based on this definition, four food security dimensions can be identified: food availability, economic and physical access to food, food utilization and stability over time)”, and food safety, to be interpreted as the need to guarantee the non-toxicity of foodstuffs along the entire production chain where chemical, physical or biological may occur, a problem that is even more felt in globalized food contexts. In the last few years, the concept of nutrition security has been added, defined as “A situation that exists when secure access to an appropriately nutritious diet is coupled with a sanitary environment, adequate health services and care, in order to ensure a healthy and active life for all household members. Nutrition security differs from food security in that it also considers the aspects of adequate caring practices, health and hygiene, in addition to dietary adequacy” (CSF 2012). The availability of foodstuffs affect consumer choices, conditioned by factors of an objective nature, like for example physiological aspects regarding the need to ascertain a nutritional intake for survival, and the possibility of having access to traditional and innovative foods, as well as those of a subjective nature, such as psychological ones determined by taste, pleasures of the table, cultural, social and economic convictions (Jabs and Devine 2006; Cruwys et al. 2015). In developed countries, excessive availability of foods, and the high rate of innovation do not always make purchasing choices easy, and as far as the Italian one is concerned, we have witnessed a progressive abandonment of a Mediterranean diet to favour a continental diet, with a progressive increase in illnesses linked to nutrition. The study of the relationship between food and how it affects our organism will have to keep track of the intake of nutrients , but without separating them from the typology of foods chosen, from an overall diet and individual lifestyle. It is necessary to remember that a complete food does not exist in nature, able to fulfill all of an organism’s needs (from children to senior adults), and therefore diet composition (food choice) is an assumption that cannot be disregarded to guarantee a good state of health and wellbeing. Furthermore, in their composite structure, foods may contain substances that carry out a positive or a negative function, in terms of usefulness. Among the first, classified nutritional principles will be counted, as we will see further on, in the two categories of macro and micronutrients. Among the second, we include substances that are able to hinder or slow down some basic functions, as for example enzymatic inhibitors, anti-vitamins and absorption reducers of nutrients, and in a wider sense, also toxic ones, such as in the case of particular toxins contained in certain fish and/or mushrooms. Finally, the foodstuff may set up the ideal vector for transportation of harmful pollutants, as in the case of eggs containing the salmonella germ, or certain fish with a high mercury content, or rather, certain technologically modified organisms obtained with productive processes, such to transform the raw material in food substantially far from what nature offers. In order to understand the food path from being taken into being used by an organism, it is necessary to explain the difference between foodstuff, nutritional principle and nutrient. For foodstuff in general, we mean a substance or compound containing nutrients which are released during the digestive process. The etymology of the word is derived from the Latin “alere” meaning feeding,Footnote 4 term which is obsolete in common language. The first definition of foodstuff as provided by the Italian system is found in D.M. 31 March 1965, regarding the discipline of chemical additives allowed in the preparation and preservation of food substances. In Article 2,we read that “In the scope of the present decree, with the term “foods” we mean food substances, food products and beverages, as well as preparations to be chewed or sucked, like “chewing-gum” and such like”. A really ample definition derives from this to justify the legislative intention in order to safeguard safety of everything that could be occasionally taken in. Nowadays the recognized definition at European level is that of Codex Alimentarius that defines food as “any substance, whether processed, semi-processed, or raw, which is intended for human consumption, and includes drink, chewing gum and any substance which has been used in the manufacture, preparation or treatment of “food” but does not include cosmetics or tobacco, or substances used only as drugs. (FAO/WHO 2013, p. 22). A further definition is the one given by Regulation (CE) n. 178/2002 of the European Parliament and Council of the 28th January 2002 which establishes the principles and general requisites of the food legislation, establishes the European Authority for food safety, and sets procedures in the field of food safety (European Parliament and Council 2002). Article 2 decrees that “what is intended by “food” (or “food product”, or “foodstuffs”) is any substance or product transformed, partially transformed or not transformed, bound to be taken in, or which we reasonably foresee could be taken in by human beings. Included hereto are drinks, chewing gum and any substance, including water, intentionally incorporated in foods in the course of their production, preparation or treatment.Footnote 5 The following are not included: (a) feedstuffs; (b) live animals, unless prepared by introduction into the market for the scope of human consumption; (c) vegetables before being harvested; (d) medicines according to Council directives 65/65/CEE (1) and 92/73/CEE (2); (e) cosmetics ac-cording to directive 76/768/CEE of the Council (3); (f) tobacco and tobacco products according to directive 89/622/CEE of the Council (4); (g) drugs or psychotropic substances according to the unique convention of the Unites Nations on drugs in 1961 and the convention of the United Nations on psychotropic substances in 1971; (h) residues and pollutants. The finality of the European Regulation (CE) n.178/2002 is sanctioned in article 8 which confirms that “food legislation intends to safeguard consumer interests and wants to construct the basis to allow same to carry our conscious choices in relation to foods being the subject matter of consumption”. In order to be able to carry out conscious choices, the consumer should know useful substances, the necessary quantity and quality to the proper functioning of an organism as well as modalities of decomposition and use of foods that correlate to the metabolic importance of the nutrient . Vitally important to the state of an individual’s health is the contribution of nutritional principles, subdivided into two categories of macronutrients (glucides, protides and lipides), and micronutrients (mineral salts and vitamins). As nutritional principle, we define every complex substance naturally contained in foods which cannot be used if not split and calculated before-hand in order to obtain nutrients. Glucides, protides and lipides are an example. Following the appropriate elaboration, from the nutritional principle we obtain the nutrient which is defined by Codex Alimentarius in the Guidelines on food labeling (CAC/GL 2-1985, rev. 2013) as every substance consumed normally as component of a food product :

  • which brings energy;

  • which is necessary to growth, development and life maintenance;

  • whose lack will cause changes in biochemical or physiological characteristics of an organism.

We can affirm that a nutrient is a substance that can be absorbed as such by an organism, and used for nutritional scopes (energetic, plastics, balancing, regulating or protection)—or rather, to pursue the pre-established metabolic integrity—and are distinguished into energetic and non-energetic, in macronutrients and micronutrients. The passage of the food to the nutrient is explicit, with a few examples in Table 3.2.

Table 3.2 Example of the passage of a foodstuff to the nutritional principle to the nutrient
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The presence of nutrient in the food is a necessary condition, but is not sufficient to the process of absorption and use of same by an organism. The macro and micro nutrients , in fact, are almost never completely usable for activities of the organism’s growth and maintenance, and for this it is necessary to introduce the concept of bioavailability defined as “the efficiency with which a dietary component is used systemically through normal metabolic pathways” (Aggett 2010). Bioavailability is measured as the percentage of nutrient used on the total nutrient in-take—it is expressed as a percentage of intakes and is known to be influenced by dietary and host factors—and depends on three typologies of factors: the characteristics of the food, the composition of diet and intrinsic factors to the individual. As far as the characteristics are concerned, the food may present itself in the most differentiated chemical-physical forms that influence the organism’s ability to absorb and make use of the nutrient contained therein. An explicative example is made up of iron, an indispensable element to the metabolic functioning that is found in foods in two forms: hemic and non-hemic. The first is found mainly in animal meats and has a highly efficient absorption process and a variable bioavailability from 15 to 35 % but not influenced by factors related to diet. The second is found mostly in foods of vegetable origin, in eggs and dairy, and presents a very low bioavailability, around 2–10 %, whose variability is to be correlated to diet composition. In fact, depending on how the meal is made up, elements that favour or rather that inhibit the intake of nutrients can reach the organism. The assimilation of non-emic iron is favoured by the co-presence of ascorbic acid—commonly contained in citrus fruit—while it proves to be inhibited by substances like tannins (present in red wine), other polyphenols (contained in coffee and tea), calcium, certain proteins (such as for example those of soy and walnuts) and food fibers. Finally, bioavailability is influenced by factors intrinsic to the individual and are to be ascribed to mechanisms of a gastric emptying, to the production of enzymes, to the time of digesting the foods, to the areas of absorption and physiological state, nutritional and health which characterize it (Heaney 2001). Starting from the food and the proper supply and balance of correlated nutrients to what the body needs, an optimal state of nutrition can be derived. On the contrary, every time there occurs an intake of inappropriate nutritive substances to real organism needs, there could be a situation defined as “inconsistent nutrition” (Vannozzi et al. 2009) by defect or excess.

Conclusion

The food guidelines suggest the modality of composition of daily diet to make optimal choices in relation to maintaining an organism’s healthy state and wellbeing as long as possible. It is understood that useful substances are classified into two categories of macro and micronutrients. Said classification is not exhaustive of what the organism really needs. In fact, the passage of the foodstuff to the nutritional principle and finally the nutrient is very long and complex. Furthermore, not all nutrients can be used by the organism since they appear in different forms that affect bioavailability. In this first chapter, key concepts have been analyzed which bind food choices , made by each consumer, to the more reliable indications that guide diet composition up to pinpointing the mechanisms that regulate the passage of the foodstuff to the useful substances. It is understood that it deals with an exposure with a high degree of simplification to guarantee comprehension by each and every reader.