Acquired or learned food preferences.

Acquired or learned responses which are regularly manifested.

Regular course of eating and drinking adopted by a person or animal.

The selection of one food over another.

Any substances taken in by the body that provide nourishment.

The processes and properties of living organisms by which they take in and balance the use of nutritive materials for energy, heat production, or building material for the growth, maintenance, or repair of tissues and the nutritive properties of FOOD.

A food group comprised of EDIBLE PLANTS or their parts.

The fleshy or dry ripened ovary of a plant, enclosing the seed or seeds.

Systematic collections of factual data pertaining to the diet of a human population within a given geographic area.

A systematic collection of factual data pertaining to the nutritional status of a human population within a given geographic area. Data from these surveys are used in preparing NUTRITION ASSESSMENTS.

Behavioral responses or sequences associated with eating including modes of feeding, rhythmic patterns of eating, and time intervals.

The state of being retired from one's position or occupation.

The production and movement of food items from point of origin to use or consumption.

Predetermined sets of questions used to collect data - clinical data, social status, occupational group, etc. The term is often applied to a self-completed survey instrument.

Studies in which the presence or absence of disease or other health-related variables are determined in each member of the study population or in a representative sample at one particular time. This contrasts with LONGITUDINAL STUDIES which are followed over a period of time.

Use of written, printed, or graphic materials upon or accompanying a food or its container or wrapper. The concept includes ingredients, NUTRITIONAL VALUE, directions, warnings, and other relevant information.

Measurement and evaluation of the components of substances to be taken as FOOD.

Social and economic factors that characterize the individual or group within the social structure.

The industry concerned with processing, preparing, preserving, distributing, and serving of foods and beverages.

The presence of bacteria, viruses, and fungi in food and food products. This term is not restricted to pathogenic organisms: the presence of various non-pathogenic bacteria and fungi in cheeses and wines, for example, is included in this concept.

Gastrointestinal disturbances, skin eruptions, or shock due to allergic reactions to allergens in food.

The presence in food of harmful, unpalatable, or otherwise objectionable foreign substances, e.g. chemicals, microorganisms or diluents, before, during, or after processing or storage.

A non-medical term defined by the lay public as a food that has little or no preservatives, which has not undergone major processing, enrichment or refinement and which may be grown without pesticides. (from Segen, The Dictionary of Modern Medicine, 1992)

Prepared food that is ready to eat or partially prepared food that has a final preparation time of a few minutes or less.

Any aspect of the operations in the preparation, processing, transport, storage, packaging, wrapping, exposure for sale, service, or delivery of food.

Activities involved in ensuring the safety of FOOD including avoidance of bacterial and other contamination.

The withholding of food in a structured experimental situation.

Any food that has been supplemented with essential nutrients either in quantities that are greater than those present normally, or which are not present in the food normally. Fortified food includes also food to which various nutrients have been added to compensate for those removed by refinement or processing. (From Segen, Dictionary of Modern Medicine, 1992)

Functions, equipment, and facilities concerned with the preparation and distribution of ready-to-eat food.

Food derived from genetically modified organisms (ORGANISMS, GENETICALLY MODIFIED).

The sequence of transfers of matter and energy from organism to organism in the form of FOOD. Food chains intertwine locally into a food web because most organisms consume more than one type of animal or plant. PLANTS, which convert SOLAR ENERGY to food by PHOTOSYNTHESIS, are the primary food source. In a predator chain, a plant-eating animal is eaten by a larger animal. In a parasite chain, a smaller organism consumes part of a larger host and may itself be parasitized by smaller organisms. In a saprophytic chain, microorganisms live on dead organic matter.

Laws and regulations concerned with industrial processing and marketing of foods.

The consumption of edible substances.

Food that has been prepared and stored in a way to prevent spoilage.

Substances which are of little or no nutritive value, but are used in the processing or storage of foods or animal feed, especially in the developed countries; includes ANTIOXIDANTS; FOOD PRESERVATIVES; FOOD COLORING AGENTS; FLAVORING AGENTS; ANTI-INFECTIVE AGENTS (both plain and LOCAL); VEHICLES; EXCIPIENTS and other similarly used substances. Many of the same substances are PHARMACEUTIC AIDS when added to pharmaceuticals rather than to foods.

An agency of the PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE concerned with the overall planning, promoting, and administering of programs pertaining to maintaining standards of quality of foods, drugs, therapeutic devices, etc.

Sucking of the finger. This is one of the most common manipulations of the body found in young children.

Food processed and manufactured for the nutritional health of children in their first year of life.

Total number of calories taken in daily whether ingested or by parenteral routes.

Components of the usual diet that may provide health benefits beyond basic nutrients. Examples of functional foods include soy, nuts, chocolate, and cranberries (From NCCAM Backgrounder, March 2004, p3).

Procedures or techniques used to keep food from spoiling.

Foods made from SOYBEANS. Health benefits are ascribed to the high levels of DIETARY PROTEINS and ISOFLAVONES.

Food and dietary formulations including elemental (chemically defined formula) diets, synthetic and semisynthetic diets, space diets, weight-reduction formulas, tube-feeding diets, complete liquid diets, and supplemental liquid and solid diets.

Natural or synthetic dyes used as coloring agents in processed foods.

Examination of foods to assure wholesome and clean products free from unsafe microbes or chemical contamination, natural or added deleterious substances, and decomposition during production, processing, packaging, etc.

Mechanical food dispensing machines.

A status with BODY WEIGHT that is grossly above the acceptable or desirable weight, usually due to accumulation of excess FATS in the body. The standards may vary with age, sex, genetic or cultural background. In the BODY MASS INDEX, a BMI greater than 30.0 kg/m2 is considered obese, and a BMI greater than 40.0 kg/m2 is considered morbidly obese (MORBID OBESITY).

Smallest political subdivisions within a country at which general governmental functions are carried-out.