The effects of food on people's health and well-being are very important today.
Food has long been recognized as necessary for basic human survival.
True nutrition-focused work began in the early 20th Century, a period when average life expectancies at birth in the United States ranged between 50 and 60 years and infectious diseases ranked as the leaded cause of death. By mid-Century, advances in technology, public health knowledge and practice, and understanding of nutrition and health paved the way for dramatic increases in life expectancy as infectious diseases gave way to chronic and degenerative health conditions-as conditions caused by overnutrition became dominant over those caused by undernutrition.
Underrepresented in ongoing nutrition research are examinations of food intake variability, including most prominently the influences of 'time, ' as expressed through age and the passage of calendar dates, and of 'diversity, ' as captured by both the characteristics of people and the cultural, social, economic, and political elements of historic context. In short, knowledge and understanding of how and why food intake changes among different groups of people, from birth through death, and from the past through the present day, remains poor.
Culture plays a role in producing food identities and routines that develop over time. Individual food culture may influence the foods consumed during meals. Food culture evolves due to a combination of the introduction of new food types, social interactions, and shared food experiences.
Another aspect is the change in the food industry or distribution impact food decisions. The food industry has evolved significantly over the last fifty years.