Eating Study Less and less time to eat

Nestlé study: More and more people do not have time to eat. Group is involved in the field of "healthy nutrition".

17.01.2011

On almost all TV channels, cooking shows are broadcast during prime time, but self-contained cooking seems to be an exception. According to a study of the food company „Nestlé“ take less and less German time to eat. But the Nestlé study should not be completely unselfish. The group wants the area of „healthy diet“ continue to expand and set up a scientific institute specifically for this purpose. The management of this institute will be assumed by the former head of research of the US biotechnology company ViaCyte, Emmanuel Baetge.

A healthy diet is important to a majority
The results of the Nestlé study do not seem new. While a healthy diet will become more and more important, a large number of consumers do not see that they pay more for the food. 60 percent of respondents said it was important that the animals were previously kept in an appropriate manner, only about half (33 percent), however, would spend more money for it. In genetic engineering, the information is about the same. 62 percent said that they did not want to eat genetically modified products, only about 27 percent would also have to pay more for it already.

Professional life guilty of missing food structures
Even the much-noticed reasons do not seem new. Due to the ever faster developing society, well-known daily structures are lost. Since 2009, the proportion of those who have to complain about different or different daily routines has risen. Among the 20 to 29-year-olds from 47 percent to 52 percent, among the working people from 37 percent to 41 percent. The occupation increasingly promotes the replacement of a consistent daily structure. Every sixth employee works around 50 hours or more a week. 17 percent of respondents regularly provide shifts, about 10 percent self-employed or self-employed.

Such a derailment of the structure naturally also has consequences for the diet. This shows that people who have an unregulated daily routine, also eat irregular food. Instead of pursuing the feeling of hunger, many postpone their food intake to a free window of opportunity. Of the study participants with a relatively irregular daily routine, 43 percent eat when the time is right, 31 percent when they are hungry, and only 20 percent at fixed times of the day. Many also intervene easily in between „snack“, to compensate for the time between meals.

Common diseases due to unhealthy diet
Other studies point in this connection repeatedly at the connection of the unhealthy lifestyle in the western world and the massive increase of illnesses like obesity, diabetes, heart attack and cancer. All these diseases are now considered common diseases, as the incidence rate increases from year to year.

"Healthy Foods" of the food industry
Food companies like Nestlé have long recognized this trend. Although the consumer as a whole is more interested in a healthy diet, the lifestyles of occupational constraints still can not stop most. So the group has been involved in things for some time „healthy diet“. One propagates one „personalized health nutrition“, with it „efficient and cost effective ways“ to prevent and treat acute and chronic diseases of the 21st century“ (1). Especially for this purpose they founded a new subsidiary called „Nestle Health Science“. The newly invented products should help promote "good health and a long life," as the company announced in September 2010. New knowledge about aging, the influence of genes as well as environmental factors should play an important role in the conception.

The concept „functional foods“ is not new. For example, food manufacturers advertise that a special margarine „Protects the heart and circulation“. However, scientists at the Leipzig University Hospital advised caution last year, as some of these products contain herbal substitutes. These substances are said to replace animal fats and lower cholesterol levels. However, in some patients, with certain genetic predispositions, these substances are significantly worse excreted. This increases the sterol level in the body and the risk of heart attack increases. Such phytosterols can be found in margarine, mayonnaise, yoghurt or spray cream. (Sb)

Also read:
Fat substitutes harmful to health?
Dangerous substances in soft drinks

Source: Nutrition study Nestlé released in 2011
(1) Nestlé: prevent diseases with food?

Image: Claudia Hautumm /pixelio.de