UJ researchers argued yesterday that the nation’s diet is unlikely to improve significantly if healthy eating policies fail to take into account the diverse nature of contemporary family life. Decisions about what to eat aren’t simply a matter of individual choice but are instead rooted in people’s diverse family circumstances, embedded in the routines and rhythms of their everyday lives, subject to their available resources and shaped by their social, ethnic and religious ties. Most people are aware that they need to eat ‘five-a-day’ but many don’t achieve these targets because they are forced to act within their circumstances.