MEDIA REPRESENTATION & HEALTH

Media Representation of Food and Diet

Introduction1

Discussion1

Definition of Terms1

Eating Habits and its Consequences2

Nutritional Requirements in Different Stages of Life3

Relationship between Diet and Disease5

Handling Socio-Economic Differences9

The Need of Health Issue Awareness Program9

Impact of Media on Health and Diet10

Steps To Promote Awareness Regarding Healthy Eating Habits12

Factors that Influence the Choice of Food13

Role of Organizations in Promoting Healthy Eating Habit15

Behaviour and Effects of Media15

Conclusion15

Media Representation of Food and Diet

Introduction

According to World Health Organization, Good nutrition is a known trait in acquiring and maintaining a good health during the whole life (WHO, 2003). Healthy or unhealthy existence of a human being is influenced by the smoking status, physical activity levels, life style, alcohol consumption and the quality of nutrition. In UK, diet is recognized as a major contributor to many non-communicable diseases and the increasing incidence has become a great threat for the population residing in United Kingdom and for the government (DOH, 2004a). Non-communicable diseases are found to be the major risk factor for the mortality in England and Wales. That is why it is very important to consider the health issues and possible steps should be taken in this regard. This can be done by various approaches; top of them is by creating awareness. Media can play a vital role in the promotion of healthy habits. But as we know that everything has two aspects one is negative and other is positive.

Discussion

Definition of Terms

Food

Food is defined as the substance which is utilized by the organisms in order to gain the nutritional support for the body. It is mainly of animal or plant origin and comprised of a set of nutrients like the fats, carbohydrates, proteins, minerals and vitamins that are essential for life.

Diet

The combination of food that is consumed by an organism is known as diet.

Nutrition

The synonyms of nutrition are the aliment and nourishment. Nutrition can be defined as the provision of materials that are essential to the cells as well as the organisms, in the form of food for supporting the life.

Balance diet

Balanced diet means selecting various foods as well as drinks from all the food groups. Balance diet also refers to the eating the things moderately like trans fat, saturated fats, cholesterol, salt and refined sugar. The basic aim is to consume food at the levels according to the standards predetermined by the nutrition experts.

Eating Habits and its Consequences

Despite of many positive aspects of media, there are various negative aspects also. So media should be utilized for the promotion of healthy pattern of life style rather playing negative role. Negative in a way that it shows advertisements that contains the promotion of junk food, restaurants, readymade meals, easy to cook accessories that are mostly embedded in chemicals that are used for preservation and not good for human health. Similarly the advertisements that highlight serious health issues plays an influential role, like for example in one advertisement of milk, they showed that the women, who do not take milk, can suffer from ...