Food choice and intake: the human factor

Human perceptions and selection of food are derived from the prevailing and momentary food, agro-economic and cultural environment, cognitive and biol ogical characteristics of individuals, and the real and perceived intrinsic and extrinsic attributes of foods themselves. The range of items typically chosen and consumed within a given population is largely determined by int eraction of the external environmental context with guiding sets of implici t and explicit social and psychobiological 'rules'. Within the rather broad limits of biology, individual food choices and intake behaviours relate to and reflect aspects of food availability, existing habitual behaviours, le arning mechanisms, and individual beliefs and expectations. Many of the rel evant features of these variables are uniquely human, together determining what is 'food', when, how, by and with whom it is chosen and eaten, and in what quantities. They also provide the opportunities for individuals to est ablish and maintain a relatively stable set of culturally and biologically determined affective responses ('likes') and intake behaviours. Understandi ng of the potential contribution of these influences under different condit ions can serve to explain many of the observed characteristics of human eat ing, and highlight potential avenues for intervention.