Pleasure Versus Health: Identifying Consumer Eating Patterns for Available Food Options

Current research used comprehensive literature taken from 50 prominent research articles related to health journals, and the direct and indirect relationships of the retrieved independent attributes, such as food security, human lifestyle, social norms, eating habits, and food insecurity, were checked on the model’s dependent variable, health issues. Data was obtained from 1,125 respondents of the northern region of Punjab, India through a well-written questionnaire mirroring the extracted variables and their 28 supporting items on a 5-point Likert scale and demographics such as health perception, location, age, and qualification on a nominal scale. Robust estimation standards of PLS-SEM, such as discriminant validity through (Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio), outer and inner collinearity to check common method bias, reliability, effect size, consistency, control variable effect, relationship of nonlinearity, R2, and finally, tool fitness standards aided in the study model’s final verification and analysis (t and p values). This research has focused on studying the various scenarios of people’s eating lifestyles based on their location and has attempted to determine under what conditions its influence on people’s health is greatest. Also, research novelty and practical contributions focus on businesses, consumers, and governments in developing and developed countries to alter their current strategies with a focus on prioritizing health issues, quality food items, and long-term sustainable strategies. Plain language summary Purpose Current research used comprehensive literature taken from 50 prominent health-related articles from prominent journals to frame a health model for youngsters, whereby the influence of independent constructs, such as food security, human lifestyle, social norms, eating habits, and food insecurity, was checked on the model’s dependent variable, health issues. Design/methodology/approach Robust estimation standards of PLS-SEM, such as discriminant validity through (Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio), outer and inner collinearity to check common method bias, reliability, effect size, consistency, control variable effect, relationship of nonlinearity, R2, and finally, tool fitness standards aided in the study model’s final verification and analysis (t and p values). Findings The preceding data explicitly stated model sturdiness, with young consumer health concerns having a direct link with food insecurity (.686), food security (.075) and eating behavior (.178) and model attributes like human lifestyle (.257), social norms (.378), having a direct impact on eating behavior R2 (.341) along with an indirect or mediating influence on consumers’ health with a model final predicting the variance of R2 (.642). So it can be concluded that food insecurity should be addressed as a priority, followed by eating behavior, which is supported by features such as human lifestyle and social standards, and lastly, food security, in order to improve the living health circumstances of people across the world. Practical implications Given the fact that nearly 1 billion people are obese, which has resulted in several noncommunicable diseases affecting people’s liver, joints, hearts, reproductive systems, and kidneys, their predominance is anticipated to grow by the year 2025. As a result, businesses, consumers, and governments in developing and developed countries must alter their current strategies, focusing on prioritizing health issues for themselves as well as for their surroundings, and then idealizing factors in order to modify their working practices in order to minimize the hazardous effects of consumer health-related issues with quality food items and long-term sustainable strategies. Originality/value Previous researchers have tried to focus on individual attributes influencing consumer buying intent for food products, but current research tried to build a model using extensive literature extracted from 50 health-related articles from prominent journals and then analyzed the influence of the retrieved independent components, such as food security, human lifestyle, social norms, eating habits, and food insecurity, on the model’s dependent variable, health issues. Limitations India being is a diverse cultural country with a large population living in poverty, particularly in rural areas. Adopting developed-nation strategies will take time, so different approaches are required to understand their psychological mindsets and, eventually, improve their health conditions. Social Research highlights that food insecurity should be addressed as a priority, followed by eating behavior while emphasizing on human lifestyle and social standards to improve the living standards of youngsters with reflection of hedonic consumption for positive emotions, trust, and satisfaction.