Eating behavior as a determinant of food consumption: gender-related aspects; comportamiento alimentario como determinante del consumo: aspectos relacionados con el género

This article describes various aspects of certain determinants of food consumption, particularly those related to gender, highlighting both the roles assigned to women and those they assume in the sphere of food within domestic and family settings. These roles, strongly influenced by the cultural and socioeconomic environment, accompany women in the various stages of life, conditioning their own health and that of those who cohabit with them. Eating behavior, on the other hand, responds to multiple motivations, such as biological, psychological, sociocultural, as well as genetic and environmental variables. The maintenance of the fulfillment of the roles culturally required of women, even at an advanced age, leads them to develop mental health disorders, especially related to mood. The manuscript aims to visualize these situations, and the complexities they encompass, from a gender perspective, to contribute to improve the awareness of their existence and to act in the search for better conditions to face them.