Strengthening the Socio-cultural Dimension of Food in the Mexican Healthy and Sustainable Dietary Guidelines

BACKGROUND: Dietary guidelines should incorporate not only advances in nutritional science but also the sociocultural factors that shape food practices. This study describes how the sociocultural dimension was integrated into the 2023 Mexican Healthy and Sustainable Dietary Guidelines (HSDGs). It presents key formative research findings on food practices, perceptions, and the sociocultural and environmental factors influencing adherence to selected dietary recommendations, which informed the contextualization, formulation, and communication of the Guidelines. METHODS: We conducted 84 semi-structured interviews with mothers and fathers of children and adolescents from low socioeconomic households across Mexico. Interviews explored food practices, the sociocultural food space, the feasibility of adopting selected dietary recommendations, and environmental practices related to food consumption. RESULTS: Social norms, symbolic meanings, gendered food responsibilities, and food environment factors strongly influenced dietary practices. Prevailing norms encouraged the consumption of red meat and ultra-processed products while discouraging vegetables and legumes, creating barriers to healthier and more sustainable diets. CONCLUSIONS: These findings informed recommendations to reshape food-related social norms by promoting vegetables and legumes as everyday foods, challenging the normalization of frequent red meat and ultra-processed product consumption, encouraging shared household food responsibilities, and addressing structural barriers such as the seasonal affordability of fruits and vegetables.