Food choice motivations and perception of a healthy diet in a developing Mediterranean country

This study investigated the Lebanese consumers' knowledge about healthy food perception and their food motivations according to gender and also to environmental, social, and health behaviors. The survey consisted of a longitudinal study undertaken on a sample of 450 participants from which only 410 questionnaires were considered to be valid. For the analysis of the data, basic descriptive statistics were used, complemented with statistical tests (Student t -test for comparisons between two groups and ANOVA for comparisons between three or more groups). Finally, analyses were done to evaluate the importance of healthy food perception among these people, and the possible sociodemographic variables are as follows: age group, level of education, gender, and living environment. The results allowed identifying which types of factors mostly influence people's food choices. They revealed that both the economic and availability motivations (mean scores 2.83 and 2.98 for female and male participants, respectively) and the social and cultural motivations (mean scores 2.90 and 3.09) have less impact on the perception of a healthy diet than the healthy motivations (mean scores 3.48 and 3.29) and the environmental and political motivations (mean scores 3.35 and 3.43), this last being also the highest expression and without statistical gender differences. This work is relevant because it highlights the food motivation factors that influence people's perception about a healthy diet in a developing country, facing social and economic crisis in addition to many gender inequalities, yet having the highest education levels in the region in addition to its multiethnical diversity and religiosity.