Motivational Determinants of Food Choices

Food choice is governed by a complex interplay of internal drives and external influences. Intrinsic factors include biological needs, sensory preferences and psychological goals such as health, pleasure or emotional regulation. Extrinsic drivers encompass social context, cultural norms, economic constraints and information cues such as labelling or marketing. Together these forces shape decision-making at each eating occasion, from momentary impulses to long-term dietary patterns. Motivational determinants range from conscious prioritisation of nutrient quality or sustainability to subconscious affective responses to food environments. Advances in real-time assessment and conceptual modelling have begun to unravel how momentary affect, personal beliefs and contextual affordances converge to guide choice. Understanding these determinants is essential for designing interventions that align individual motivations with public-health and planetary-health objectives, for instance by leveraging self-efficacy and in-situ feedback to promote healthier, more sustainable diets on a global scale.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have deployed smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment to capture real-world eating behaviour and accompanying affect. One foundational investigation found that vegetables and fruits contribute as much to momentary eating happiness as traditionally “indulgent” foods, highlighting that healthful options can satisfy emotional as well as physiological needs. Such real-time methods reveal the dynamic nature of motivational determinants and suggest that interventions timed to individuals’ emotional states may be especially effective in steering choices towards nutritious options.

Motivational Determinants of Food Choices publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in motivational determinants of food choices across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Ecological momentary assessment: A method of collecting real-time data on behaviours and experiences in natural settings.

Food choice motives: Underlying psychological reasons—such as health, taste, convenience or sustainability—that guide selection of foods.

Self-efficacy: An individual’s belief in their capacity to execute behaviours necessary to achieve specific goals.

References

1. Segmenting consumers of meat and dairy products from five European countries: Implications for promoting sustainable food choices. Sustainable Production and Consumption (2024).
2. Perspective: A Conceptual Framework for Adaptive Personalized Nutrition Advice Systems (APNASs). Advances in Nutrition (2023).
3. Determinants of the intention to increase vegetable consumption in Vietnam and Switzerland. Journal of Agriculture and Food Research (2024).
4. Why understanding food choice is crucial to transform food systems for human and planetary health. BMJ Global Health (2023).
5. Conceptual Models of Food Choice: Influential Factors Related to Foods, Individual Differences, and Society. Foods (2020).
6. Healthy food choices are happy food choices: Evidence from a real life sample using smartphone based assessments. Scientific Reports (2017).