How Technology Is Shaping Our Eating Habits
Health issues linked to poor nutrition, such as obesity and malnutrition, are increasing, making the way technology is shaping our eating habits an increasingly important part of the solution. The integration of digital tools into everyday life is gradually changing how people approach food, health, and eating habits. Rather than relying solely on traditional methods, individuals now have new ways to understand their nutritional needs, monitor their food intake, and make more informed choices. This shift reflects a broader move toward accessible, data-driven approaches to managing health.
In this article, find out how technology is transforming our eating habits.
Key Determinants of Dietary Choices
There are several common challenges people face when trying to make healthy dietary choices. What and how people eat is influenced by a range of factors, including the following key determinants:
Biological Factors
Hunger, appetite, and taste are basic but powerful drivers of food choice. Foods rich in sugar, fat, or salt are frequently consumed in excess due to their strong taste appeal. Also, some macronutrients promote a greater feeling of fullness compared to others, such as fat, which may affect portion sizes and eating frequency.
Economic Factors
The cost of food and limited food choices significantly impact what people eat, especially in low-income households. According to the European Commission report “Food 2030 Pathways for Action – Research and Innovation Policy as a Driver for Sustainable, Healthy and Inclusive Food Systems,” approximately 800 million people globally suffer from hunger, undernutrition, or malnutrition.
Social and Cultural Influence
Social factors, cultural background, and peer influence shape eating habits. Cultural traditions, religious beliefs, and family routines often guide food preferences and preparation. In modern lifestyles, time constraints also play a role—many people opt to order food or choose quick meals due to a lack of time, which can impact the quality of their diet.
Psychological Factors
Stress, mood, and emotional states can heavily influence eating behaviour. For some, stress triggers overeating or cravings for high-calorie “comfort foods.” Others may lose their appetite altogether.
Knowledge and Information Gaps
A major barrier to healthy eating is the lack of accurate, accessible, and understandable nutritional information. Conflicting messages about what constitutes a healthy diet can confuse individuals and lead to poor decisions.
How Technology Is Shaping Our Eating Habits
With the rise of digital health platforms, artificial intelligence (AI), and wearable devices, people now have more opportunities than ever to get informed about healthier eating habits.
In the EU, 74% of Member States report that 80–100% of their population can access electronic health records, according to the European Commission’s 2024 Digital Decade eHealth Indicator Study. This kind of access enables better coordination between digital tools and healthcare services, including nutrition care.
Tools like wearables, diet tracking apps, and AI-powered chatbots are already widely used in the nutrition care process. The goal is to help people track their habits, get reminders, and receive advice tailored to their goals.
More and more people are also turning to social media and online resources to inform their food choices. On one hand, this makes healthy tips and evidence-based guidance more accessible. On the other hand, the overwhelming volume of content, much of it unverified, can be misleading. This highlights the importance of promoting reliable, science-based information from trusted sources.
Leveraging AI can help with the nutritional aspect of our eating habits. Large language models (LLMs), for example, are now being used to estimate nutrient content from food labels, photos, and text descriptions. Research shows that these models can identify foods in images and predict food categories with over 90% accuracy.
How WiseFood Uses AI to Help People Make Informed and Sustainable Food Choices
WiseFood is a three-year Horizon Europe project aimed at empowering citizens to make well-informed and eco-conscious food choices at the household level through three user-friendly, AI-powered applications. The project will develop digital tools focused on knowledge extraction, recipe optimisation for both nutritional value and environmental impact, and personalised meal plans and recipe suggestions that help reduce food waste while promoting healthier, more sustainable alternatives. By testing these solutions in real-world settings through Living Labs in Ireland, Hungary, and Slovenia, WiseFood ensures its innovations are relevant, adaptable, and widely applicable.
Large Language Models bring the ability to understand and communicate in human language. In WiseFood, we are tailoring these LLMs to understand the user’s needs around food and nutrition discussions. This means users can ask questions naturally, as if talking to an expert, and get clear, understandable answers. LLMs also help us process and make sense of large volumes of textual information, like scientific articles or dietary guidelines, to build and update our knowledge base more efficiently.
Conclusion
Technology is already deeply integrated into our lives, and using it wisely can enhance our health, well-being, and promote more environmentally conscious eating. The WiseFood project aims to do exactly that, to leverage data and artificial intelligence to empower households to make healthier and more sustainable food choices
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