Food and Health

Abstract

In many parts of the world the relationship between food and health is predominately defined by a nutritional and medical discourse today. This discourse focuses on food intake as a core determinant of individual bodily and mental health, prevention of under- or overweight, and future diseases. Sociologists and other social scientist, however, have a broader understanding of the relationship between food and health and emphasise how cultural meanings and beliefs as well as social structures and institutions such as education, media, law, politics, and economy shape food practices. The aim of sociological research, reviewed here, is to understand the conditions of possibility for the emergence and prominence of a medical-nutrition discourse on food and health and what it tells us about contemporary society.