Nutrition: Financial Determinants

• Factors can significantly impact nutritional status and affect food and fluid intake.
• Financial, physical, social, psychological, attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge about food are all factors that affect food and fluid intake.

Financial Determinants

• An individual's financial income impacts the type and amount of food they can afford.
• Cheap food is usually high in saturated fat, with fewer vitamins and minerals.
• Low-income individuals often consume high amounts of saturated fat and low amounts of fruits and vegetables, potentially due to financial constraints.
• Foods with high biological value, vitamins, minerals, and lean protein tend to be expensive.
• Less healthy foods are frequently offered with "buy one get one free" promotions.
• Discounted prices are rarely found on meat, fish, fruits, and vegetables.
• Frozen or direct-from-the-farmer fruits and vegetables may be more affordable.
• Food supplements are very expensive, and people who cannot afford them, and are not entitled to them on Schedule V, will opt not to buy them, even if beneficial.
• While some people have well-paying jobs that allow them to buy healthy food, they lack the time to prepare it.
• People with good occupations usually have a lot of meetings, travel abroad or have regular lunch/dinner with clients, which leads to over consumption of food/alcohol.
• Highly demanding jobs leave less time for regular physical activity.

Physical Factors

• Accessibility refers to whether a client can physically purchase food from a store.
• Accessibility issues can include financial constraints and physical disabilities.
• The questions to consider include can the person walk, are the shops too far, are buses available
• Availability refers to whether a person has all the ingredients to prepare a recipe.
• In Malta, food and drink availability is better than it was in the past.
• Online shopping and home deliveries have improved availability.
• Fast food shops are more available than healthy food stalls in almost all localities.

Time Constraints

• Shift work, long working hours and generally busy lives can affect nutritional intake and habits
• Ready-to-cook meals and pre-packed fruits and vegetables can be preferred due to time constraints
• There is a concern that younger individuals are losing cooking skills.

Social Factors

• Food preferences differ between social classes.
• People in higher social classes tend to have healthier diets.
• Higher social classes can afford organic food and eat meat/fish more often.
• Farmers tend to eat more of their produce and may have lower protein intake.
• Those in higher social classes may have varied diets, read about what is healthy, and pursue healthier lifestyles.
• An individual's eating environment impacts their intake as people tend to overeat when others around them overeat.
• People living with family members who have eating disorders may exhibit similar behaviors.
• Visitors who bring food to hospital patients directly impact the patient's food consumption.
• Setting influences food and fluid choices, for example schools restrict high-sugar items.
• Cultural influences impact eating habits; in Malta, people do not eat meat on Wednesdays or Fridays and also abstain from sweets during Lent.
• Young people in Malta may not be eating traditional foods like soppa ta' l-armla, minestra, kawlata, and ross il-forn.
• People adapt to the culture they are living in, such as South Asians migrating to Scotland changing eating habits and increase in Body Mass Index, heart disease and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.
• Using food banks or EU food supplies, and receiving food vouchers from a parish church are social considerations.
• Use of meals on wheels (meals for you) helps provide nutritious meals

Psychological Factors

• Stress can cause some people to undereat due to various reasons, including a lack of appetite, feeling full easily, being too preoccupied, or feeling nauseous.
• Stress can cause some people to overeat, often consuming higher fat or sugar foods.
• Depression, and women in the pre-menstrual period can lead to either overeating or undereating.
• Mood changes will change the temperament and influence food choices.
• Dieting mood changes may cause guilt when certain food is consumed that will increase the desire for that particular food.

Motivation

• Motivation and readiness to change are linked to awareness, knowledge, support, and previous attempts.
• The ability to apply knowledge and skills about food to daily life is important.
• People who believe they are healthy may resist changing their eating behavior.