This study aimed to recognize herb and spice consumption habits as well as to explore certain factors having an influence on it in seven (Austria, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Slovakia, the ...Netherlands) member states of the European Union. A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted in each country, comprising of 1731 European adults regularly preparing food at home. Pepper and paprika, as well as parsley and basil were found to be the most frequently consumed spices and herbs, respectively. Validation of the ‘spice consumption’ model indicated that knowledge regarding health issues of herbs and spices was of high importance, which may have had favourable effects on the consumption habits. In conclusion, this study suggests that emphasising of health issues − directly or as incorporated into gastronomic elements − can be a useful tool for the expansion of herb and spice consumption, as well as globalizing of national cuisines and the consumption of typical national spices and country specific characteristics which can be still identified in Europe.
•The consumption frequency of selected herbs and spices was analysed.•Development and validation of the model analysis of the factors affecting ‘spice consumption’ were performed.•The most commonly consumed condiments were pepper and paprika, as well as parsley and basil among spices and herbs, respectively.•Stressing of knowledge about the health issues can increase consumption frequency.
The spice trade network is one of the oldest and substantially vulnerable systems of the agri-food supply chains. Based on statistical analysis of spice paprika (chilli red pepper) and black pepper ...trade flows within the EU member states, stochastic simulation models have been developed for prognosis of the proliferation of contaminated products between the member states as a function of the source-state of the contaminated products. Results highlight the rapidity of proliferation, and offer a simple, but robust tool for prediction of contamination patterns among states, serving the formation of a targeted defence strategy and policy Traditional geostatistical methods (e.g. Morens’ I of spatial autocorrelation) in most cases are not suitable to predict the geographic distribution of contaminated products among countries, due to complexity and inter-connectedness of the European spice network. The pattern of proliferation of contaminated products between member states was analysed using a dyadic network of relational data, applying additive and multiplicative effects model. Results of analysis prove the importance of long-distance, international trade in distribution of contaminated products.
•There is a high risk of rapid proliferation of contaminated products in the spice network of EU.•Stochastic simulation is an efficient tool for determination of sources as well as the patterns of proliferated products.•The distribution of contaminated products is not determined by geostatistical methods.•Countries with similar economic development status show considerable similarities in distribution of proliferated products.
Emotion can reflect in the perception of food consumption. An increase in food intake during emotional and psychological conditions may have a negative impact on human health. The aim of this ...cross-sectional study was to determine the associations between food consumption, emotional eating behavior, and emotional conditions such as stress, depression, loneliness, boredom eating, maintaining vigilance and alertness, and emotional food consolation. We used a Motivations for Food Choices Questionnaire (Eating Motivations, EATMOT) to determine the emotional aspects of food consumption in 9052 respondents living in 12 European countries between October 2017 and March 2018. Ordinal linear regression was used to identify the associations between the emotional eating behavior and emotional conditions such as stress, depression, loneliness, emotional consolation, and reasons to improve physical and psychological conditions. The regression models confirmed the associations between food consumption, emotional conditions, and emotional eating behavior. Associations were found between the emotional eating behavior and stress (odds ratio (OR) = 1.30, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.07-1.60,
= 0.010), depressive mood (OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.40-1.43,
< 0.001), loneliness (OR = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.58-1.62,
< 0.001), boredom (OR = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.36-1.39,
< 0.001), and emotional consolation (OR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.54-1.57,
< 0.001). Emotional eating was associated with an effort to improve physical and psychological conditions, such as controlling body weight (OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.10-1.12,
< 0.001), keeping awake and alert (OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.19-1.20,
< 0.001) and consumption to feel good (OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.21-1.22,
< 0.001). In conclusion, emotions might provoke emotional eating behavior. The appropriate way to handle stress, depression, or other emotional states is important in conditions of being emotionally overwhelmed. The public should be educated on how to handle different emotional states. The focus should be moved somehow from emotional eating and the consumption of unhealthy food to healthy lifestyle practices, including regular exercise and healthy eating habits. Thus, it is necessary to halt these negative health effects on human health through public health programs.
The objective was to develop and validate an instrument that measures different determinants of people's food choices and simultaneously accounts for a variety of factors: health, emotions, price and ...availability, society and culture, environment and politics, and marketing and advertising.
This is a cross-sectional study focusing on food choice determinants. It was carried out in 16 countries in 2017 and 2018. This study included 11,960 volunteer adult participants from different countries. The data was validated using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM).
Validation using CFA with SEM revealed that multi-factor modelling produced first- and second-order models that could be used to define the EATMOT scale, the first presenting better fitting indices, with the goodness-of-fit and comparative-fit indices very close to 1, as well as root-mean-square-error-of-approximation, root-mean-square-residual and standardised-root-mean-square-residual at practically zero.
The validated EATMOT scale guarantees confidence in the information obtained through this instrument, and can be used in future studies to better understand food choice determinants in different geographical areas and help plan strategies to improve healthy eating patterns and diminish the burden of non-communicable diseases.
Many aspects linked to personal characteristics, society and culture constitute some of the motivators that drive food choice. The aim of this work was to determine in what extent the eating ...behaviors of individuals are shaped by six different types of determinants, namely: health, emotions, price and availability, society and culture, environment and politics, and marketing and commercials. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study, involving a non-probabilistic sample of 11,960 participants from 16 countries. The objective of this work was to validate the questionnaire, so as to make it suitable for application in different contexts and different countries. For that, six scales were considered for validation by confirmatory factor analysis with structural equation modelling. The obtained results showed that the six individual scales evaluated presented good or very good fitting indices, with saturation in goodness-of-fit index in all cases. The values of chi-square ratio were 6.921 (for health), 0.987 (environment), 0.610 (emotions) and 0.000 in the remaining cases (convenience, society, marketing). Furthermore, the fit was perfect, with saturation for all indices, in three of the six models (convenience, society and marketing). The results of this wok allowed the validation of the six scales, and the assessing of different types of factors that can influence food choices and eating behaviors, namely in the categories: health, emotions, price and availability, society and culture, environment and politics, and marketing and commercials.
Food consumption involves several dimensions, being some of them directly associated with the consumers' characteristics. The interrelationships between these domains impact consumer behaviour for ...food choice and the consequent decisions for food consumption. In these frameworks, economic motivations are determinant. On the other hand, the scientific literature highlights that the economic-based stimuli to choose food is still underexplored. In this perspective, the objective of this study was to assess the main sociodemographic and anthropometric determinants of the economic motivations for food choice. For that, a questionnaire survey was carried out involving 11,919 respondents from 16 countries. A validated questionnaire was used, translated into the native languages in all participating countries, using a back-translation process. First, the information obtained was assessed through factor analysis to reduce the number of variables associated with the economic motivations and to identify indexes. After, and considering the indexes obtained as dependent variables, a classification and regression tree analysis was performed. As main insights, it is highlighted that the main determinants of the economic motivations are country of residence, age, gender, civil state, professional activity, educational level, living environment, responsibility for buying food, weight, height, body mass index, healthy diets and physical exercise practices. Additionally, the results also reveal that economic motivations may be associated with two indexes, one related to convenience attitudes and the other to quality concerns. Finally, the younger persons and the women are the social groups more concerned with healthy diets and food quality. In conclusion, this work confirmed that food choice is to a high extent influenced by several sociodemographic and behavioural factors.
This work intended to explore some motivations that influence people’s eating habits towards sustainability. This was an observational, cross-sectional study, carried out by questionnaire survey on a ...non-probabilistic sample of 10,067 participants from 13 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Romania and United States). Results indicated that people prefer fresh local foods from the season, being important because it allows transportation and storage to be reduced, which in many cases implies refrigeration systems and consequent energy expenditure. Although people avoid food waste at home, the awareness for the waste at restaurants still needs to be improved. Consumers seem to prefer foods that have been produced and packed in sustainable ways but still give importance to the package—understandable for food products. The results also indicated significant differences in the food choice motivations between groups for all sociodemographic variables tested (age, sex, marital status, education, professional area, living environment and country), but the association was high only for variable country. Additionally, a tree classification analysis allowed to identify the relative importance of the influential variables on the sustainable food choices, with country being the most important, followed by age and sex. Additionally, discriminant function analysis allowed establishing a model for the relation between country and six variables accounting for preservation of biodiversity, respect for life, save natural resources, save energy, reduce industrial pollution and minimal packaging. Although with some limitations, this study brings valuable insight into some aspects linked with sustainable food choices on a number of countries and how people shape their food choices according to some sustainability issues.
The adequate intake of dietary fibers is essential to human health. Hence, this study intended to evaluate the level knowledge of about food fibers and investigate what factors might be associated ...with it. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample composed of 6,010 participants from ten different countries. The survey was based on a questionnaire of self-response, approved and complying with all ethical issues. The data collected were subjected to the factor analysis (FA) and the cluster analysis (CA). Validation was done by splitting the data set into two equal parts for confirmation of the results. FA concluded that ten from the 12 variables used to measure the knowledge about dietary fibre (DF) should be grouped into two dimensions or factors: one linked to health effects of DF (
= 0.854) and the other to its sources (
= 0.644). CA showed that the participants could be divided into three groups: Cluster 1 – good knowledge both about sources and health effects of DF; Cluster 2 – good knowledge about the sources of DF but poor knowledge about its health effects; Cluster 3 – poor knowledge both about sources and health effects of DF. The data were appropriate for the analysis by means of factor and CA, so that two factors and three clusters were clearly identified. Moreover, the cluster membership was found varying mostly according to the country, living environment, and level of education but not according to age or gender.
The aim of this research was to analyze motivations behind food choices from a cross-cultural perspective. It presents results derived from a multi-country study associated with Hofstede's cultural ...dimensions. A total of 11,919 respondents from 16 countries took part in this research. Two groups of statements were included in the survey: ‘economic & availability motivations' and ‘social & cultural motivations'. Six Hofstede's cultural dimensions covered: Power Distance Index, Individualism–Collectivism Index, Masculinity–Femininity Index, Uncertainty Avoidance Index, Term Orientation Index and Indulgence Restraint Index.
This study confirmed that different cultural aspects have influence on food choice. A cluster analysis revealed two clusters as follows: ‘attitudinal’ cluster comprising of 11 countries (57.7% % of the total sample) opposed to the ‘ambivalent’ cluster (47.3%) consisting of the remaining five countries. The results confirm a correlation between Hofstede's dimensions, specifically with individualistic, feminine and tolerant societies. Obtained results may be of interest for different food and gastronomy stakeholders shifting their food policies from a local to a cross-cultural perspective.
•11,919 respondents from 16 countries took part in the field survey.•Cross-cultural research on food choices was performed.•Cluster analysis revealed ‘attitudinal’ and ‘ambivalent’ countries.•Cultural background plays a role in food choices.•Results confirm correlation with Hofstede's cultural dimensions.
This study aimed at investigating the influence of some sociodemographic factors on the eating motivations. A longitudinal study was carried conducted with 11960 participants from 16 countries. Data ...analysis included t-test for independent samples or ANOVA, and neural network models were also created, to relate the input and output variables. Results showed that factors like age, marital status, country, living environment, level of education or professional area significantly influenced all of the studied types of eating motivations. Neural networks modelling indicated variability in the food choices, but identifying some trends, for example the strongest positive factor determining health motivations was age, while for emotional motivations was living environment, and for economic and availability motivations was gender. On the other hand, country revealed a high positive influence for the social and cultural as well as for environmental and political and also for marketing and commercial motivations.
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