Food and eating: Is it health

versus pleasure or health with

pleasure: Cultural perspectives"

Paul Rozin

University of Pennsylvania

November, 2014

Copenhagen

Life satisfaction (0-10 point scale) (Helliwell, Layard & Sachs, World

Happiness Report, 2013)

• 6. Canada 7.477

• 5. Sweden 7.480

• 4. Netherlands 7.512

• 3. Switzerland 7.650

• 2. Norway 7.655

• 1. Denmark 7.693

Main predictors of life satisfaction

• 1. log: Gross Domestic Product/capita

• 2. Years of healthy life expectancy

• 3. Having someone to count on in times of

trouble

• 4. Perceptions of corruption

• 5. Prevalence of generosity

• 6. Freedom to make life choices

Positive Psychology

(Martin Seligman)

• P. Positive emotions

• E. Engagement

• R. Relationships

• M. Meaning

• A. Accomplishment

Country rankings: Population about 2008http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peo_pop-people-population

Country Pop Country Pop

1 China 1,303 11 Mexico 110

2 India 1,148 12 Phillipines 96

3 USA 304 13 Viet Nam 86

4 Indonesia 238 14 Ethiopia 83

5 Brazil 196 15 Germany 82

6 Pakistan 173 16 Egypt 82

7 Bangladesh 154 17 Turkey 72

8 Nigeria 146 18 Congo 67

9 Russia 141 19 Iran 66

10 Japan 127 20 Thailand 66

Malnutrition

• UNITED NATIONS FAO

estimate

• 2010-2012

• 870,000,000 in world are

chronically malnourished

(852,000,000 in developing world)

Marasmus: energy

deficiency

Kwashiorkor: protein

deficiency

World obesity 2010

• http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/

fs311/en/

• In the world, over 200 million men and

nearly 300 million women are obese

World Obesity (CIA, 2008)

Obesity BMI>=30 as % of all adults

• https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the

-world-factbook/rankorder/2228rank.html

• 1. American Samoa 74.6%

• 18. USA 33.0%

• 23. Mexico 32.1%

• 102. Brazil 18.8%

• 107 Denmark 18.2%

• 108. France 18.2%

• 157. Japan 5.0%

• 184. India 1.9%

The obesity epidemic

• Since 2000

• Not an epidemic

• Not contagious

• Not a growth curve like an epidemic

Epidemic versus “Slow crawl”

The obesity epidemic

• For Americans in last 20 years

– About 1.5 pound gain per year

• 1 to 7 12 oz coke cans a week

Flegal et al., 2005Main Outcome Measures Number of excess deaths

in 2000 associated with given BMI levels

-100

-50

0

50

100

150

BMI<18.5 BMI >=18.5,<25

BMI >=25, <30 BMI>=30

EX

CE

SS

DE

AT

HS

(1000S

)

What is healthy eating?

Cod liver oil and vitamin CGoogle n gram

1900 1950 2000

Cholesterol, sugar, antioxidants

1950 1970 1990 2008

Gluten: Cites in public media:

2009-2014 (factiva)C

ites

/yea

r

year

1992 USDA Food Pyramid

The vegetable problem

• With Matthew Ruby

• Fruits vs Vegetables palatability

• The meaningless vegetable category

• Potato like banana

• Tomato like peach

Doctors and lay people:

The power of culture (Leeman,

Fischler & Rozin, 2006)

• 50-70 doctors and 50-70 lay people from each of

five countries

• France, Germany, Italy, U.K., U.S.A

• 20 items relating diet and eating to health

– Value of vitamin pills

– Healthiness of dairy products, wine, meat

– Importance of food, exercise, moderation for health

– (Leeman, Fischler & Rozin, 2006)

Lay-Doctor similarities on food-health

(Pearson rs across 20 variables)

• France doctor with

– France Lay .45

– US doctor -.53

• US doctor with

– US Lay .48

Consistent messages over

decades

• 1.Don’t eat too much

• 2. Eat a wide variety of foods

• 3. Fruits, vegetables and nuts/legumes are

healthy

Preadaptation and Food

nutrition pleasurenutrition pleasure

Social

force

Art

form

Meta-

phor

phor

Moral

entity

Political

Statement

Bruce Ames on pesticides

The seven most deadly chemical

compounds * Synthetic

LD50 /mg/kg

Botulinum toxin A 3 x 10-8

Tetanus toxin A 5 x 10-6

Diphtheria toxin 3 x 10-4

Dioxin * 3 x 10-2

Muscarine 2 x 10-1

Bufotoxin 4 x 10-1

Sarin * 4 x 10-1

LD50 = The lethal dose of a compound for 50% of animals

exposed

Process vs Content: survey results from

representative Americans (0-100 scale)

% reduction

in natural

Wolf

German

shepherd

12%

Cocker

spaniel

15%

Process vs Content: survey results from

representative Americans (0-100 scale)

% reduction

in natural

Wolf

German

shepherd

12%

Cocker

spaniel

15%

Wild animal

with one gene

insert

54%

natural spring water with no minerals

Mean

Natural

(0-100)

Spring water with no

minerals

92a

Add .1% minerals from other

spring water

69b

Remove same minerals 62c

a, b and c are significantly different in each column

Natural superiority halo: foods

Natural vs Processed (177 college

students; 1-5 scale, 3 = neutral)

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

5

Hea

lth

Enviro

n

Taste

Appea

rance

Com

plexi

on

Mea

n n

atu

ral

pre

fere

nce

With Sydney

Scott

Natural superiority halo: foods

Natural vs Processed (177 college

students; 1-5 scale, 3 = neutral)

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

5

Hea

lth

Enviro

n

Taste

Appea

rance

Com

plexi

onEss

entia

l AA

sFre

e Tra

deMea

n n

atu

ral

pre

fere

nce

UNPUB

Attitudes to Genetically Modified Organisms

(random sample of 1,000 from each country:

Fischler, Rozin et al., OCHA)

% strongly opposed to

consuming GE foods

Germany 68%

France 65%

U.K. 31%

U.S.A. 22%

Reservoir theory of food worries

germs

salt

toxins

fat

USA EUROPE

New food-health threatNew food-health threat

GMO opposition

Scott, Inbar & Rozin, 2015

• The conflict in the American left

• Evidence Insensitivity

• GMO opposition is moralized in USA 45%

• Moral (majority) and non Moral opponents

• Unlike domestication, GMO is unnatural

• Moral opponents find GMOs more

disgusting

Teosinte

To

Corn

Informationsdienst Gentechnik

• 10 arguments against

GMOs

• All possible, would stop

any progress

Culture as different defaults

• Which doesn’t belong?

• SHAME ANGER HAPPINESS

Culture as different defaults

• SHAME ANGER HAPPINESS

• American college students 95% happy

• Small Brahmin Indian sample 100% anger

• Hindu Indian college students 44% anger

– Menon & Shweder, Rozin, 2003

Role of religion: Eating is a religious experience;

My diet must adhere to strict moral/religious princip

females males

Culture selection

• Denmark + or -

Feature Heaven Hell

Love Italians

Banks Swiss

Universities British

Food French

Feature Heaven Hell

Love Italians Swiss

Banks Swiss

Universities British

Food French

Feature Heaven Hell

Love Italians Swiss

Banks Swiss Italians

Universities British French

Food French

Feature Heaven Hell

Love Italians Swiss

Banks Swiss Italians

Universities British French

Food French British

Late 20th Century developed

world• Epidemiological revolution: longer life and death

from degenerative diseases: shift to long-term consequences

• food surplus

• extraordinary range of food choices

• development of super-foods (e.g. chocolate)

• no work needed to attain choices

• massive amounts of risk information

• no training in dealing with risks/benefits or nutrition

The combination of health and

beauty norms

“Concerned about being

overweight”

• % responding “often“ or “almost always”

• 57% females, 21% males

• US college students from 6 universities

across the country

Rozin, Bauer & Catanese, 2003

“I am embarrassed to buy a

chocolate bar in the store”

• American college students from six campuses across the USA

• % Females: 13.5

• % Males: 4

Obesity:

France vs USA

• % BMI >= 30

• France: 16%

• USA: 32%

• 2008 http://www.who.int/gho/countries

Life expectancy at birth(data from 2008-2010: www.who.int/gho/countries)

rank country years rank country years

1 Japan 83 10 Norway 81

4.5 Australia 82 10 Sweden 81

4.5 Israel 82 14 Austria 80

4.5 Italy 82 14 Belgium 80

4.5 Singapore 82 14 Finland 80

4.5 Spain 82 14 Germany 80

4.5 Switzerland 82 14 Greece 80

10 Canada 81 14 Korea 80

10 France 81 14 U.K. 80

10 Netherlands 81 19.5 U.S.A. 79

Age-standardized annual mortality from

CHD and related risk factors(males 35-64)

WHO/MONICA Renaud & de Logeril, 1992

Location Mortality /

100,000

Serum chol-

esterol (mg/dl)

Toulouse, France 78 230

Lille, France 105 252

Stanford, USA 182 209

Thinking about food

with Claude Fischler

Percent of subjects preferring a week at a

luxury (vs. gourmet) hotel at same price

Females Males

Paris, France 13 8

USA 83 70

Percent of subjects selecting “unhealthy” for

choice:

What do you think of when you think of

HEAVY CREAM?: whipped or unhealthy

Females Males

France 28 23

USA 68 48

Percent of subjects agreeing that

they eat a “healthy diet”

Females Males

France 76% 72%

USA 28% 38%

Metaphor: Food and the body

are like:

USA France

Tree 26 66

Car or factory 43 26

Temple 32 10

Representative national samples

Fischler, Rozin et al., 2004

Food and medicine are

fundamentally different

% strongly

agree

% agree

France 74 18

US 16 59

OCHA-CIDIL Total n = 340

Factors in food attitudes

• Consumption of fat-reduced food

• Worry or concern about food and eating

• Importance of food in life

• Culinary vs nutritional thinking

• Evaluation of self as a healthy eater

• Conception of relation of food to body

• Separation of food and medicine

• Conception of healthy/tasty link

Changing the person

• Only bariatric Education about science, risks,

benefits

• Weight almost like height

The environment

with Fischler, Pete and Kabnick

The power of the environment

• Amnesia study

• Wansink and refilling soup bowl (73%

more)

• Availability (cost) and palatability: two

major controllers of intake

Eating time

(lunch, mean minutes)

Source France USA

McDonalds 22.3’ 13.2’

Quick/

Burger King

16.5 15.3

Restaurant portion size

Restaurant France USA

McDonald’s (7) 189g 256g

Quick/Bking(5) 207g 322g

Chinese (6) 244g 418g

Supermarket food portions

ITEM Carrefour Acme

Yogurt (modal) 125g 227g

Fresh fruit

(mean,4 types)

431g 553g

Coca cola

(modal)

330ml 500ml

Supermarket non-food portions

ITEM Carre-

four

Acme

toothpaste

(modal, ml)

75 170

toilet paper

(mean, sq cm)

121 117

Cat food

(modal, g)

100 85

Mean own portion size (ice cream)

(scoop size: 10-110) (with Marle

Alvarenga)

Mea

n P

ort

ion

siz

e

Cultural norms: Unit bias(Geier and Rozin, 2006)

• Free access in lobby to bowl of M&Ms, with either teaspoon or tablespoon

• Amount taken with tablespoon is 70% greater

• Similar effects with large or small tootsie rolls or pretzels

• Cumulating increments: James Hill, Barbara Rolls, Paul Rozin and others

100g, 100 calories

Lay’s stacked potato chips

Geier, Wansink and Rozin

Segmentation and consumption interrupts

About 50% reduction

Vetri Foundation Charter School Lunch: Feb, 2013

With Elizabeth Hyde, Jarrett Stein and Matthew Ruby

Vetri Foundation Charter School Lunch: Feb 2013

$1.50

END

Informationsdienst Gentechnik

• 1. Don’t know how it will affect the

genome

• 2. Will harm the ecological balance

• 3. Don’t know its effect on human health

• 4. May affect antibiotic resistance

• 5. Can’t be reversed

• 6. Uncertain costs for analysis and quality

control

• 7. Takes away consumer free choice

• 8. Will reduce agricultural jobs

• 9. No insurance against harm

• 10. patentable, may harm the food market