People around the world have evolved many different ways of eating that provide an adequate supply of essential nutrients for basic health and reproduction. Food also plays an important role in cultural traditions, socializing and expressions of love and personal beliefs.

There are many historical and contemporary examples of personal food beliefs leading to evangelistic promotion of diets. Many ignored “step one” in good nutrition: meeting essential nutrient needs. These alternative approaches to diet often use misinformation (knowingly or unknowingly) as a tool to modify behavior and change food choices. Commonly, these alternative approaches are cloaked in the cape of social conscientiousness.

Certainly, consuming a diet of foods with minimal levels of harmful chemicals and low environmental impact is important. However, these issues are not more important than making food choices that meet our biological need for essential nutrients. Since it takes time to drain the body of an essential nutrient to the point that it affects health, the long-term impact of an inadequate diet may not be apparent for years.

There is no shortage of scientific misinformation on nutrition online and in biased pseudo-documentaries. It is growing increasingly common for well-meaning, passionate individuals to use self-righteous food shaming to influence how others make food choices. This practice of food shaming is all too common and is escalating in schools at all levels.

QUESTION: What is food shaming and who does it?

ANSWER: Food shaming is a way to make someone ashamed of their food choices. To appease the shamer, many people change their food choices, assuming that it is a good thing for personal health and the environment.

The top four ideologies behind food shaming include concerns related to body weight, health, animal rights and sustainability. Recently, these shaming ideologies have been merging into a social norm image that plant-based food choices are the solution to all health and environmental issues. Food shaming is done by individuals, by various professions and even by some public health policies. Shamers are generally unaware of the negative consequences of their actions.

Q: How do we minimize the risk of being food-shamed?

A: Passionate proselytizing should not convince you to make radical dietary changes. Instead, base your food decisions on science and meeting essential nutrient needs. Although many people need more plant-based foods in their diet, keeping a good variety of foods in the diet is required to meet essential nutrient needs. Based on anatomy, humans are omnivores. Unlike cows and other ruminants, we can’t meet our nutrient needs by grazing on grass. Also, humans require vitamin B12, which only is found in animal foods. If someone insists on eating an overly narrow diet, adding dietary supplements may be necessary to avoid long-term damage to health.

Alan Titchenal, Ph.D., C.N.S., and Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S., are nutritionists in the Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dobbs also works with University Health Services.