Which combination of factors represents social determinants that nutrition education programs should address?

• A. Access, affordability, language, and transportation barriers
• B. Personal taste preferences only
• C. Knowledge alone
• D. Weather patterns

Answer: (A)

Social determinants are the environmental and systemic conditions that shape what people can actually do to eat well, beyond what they know or prefer. In nutrition education, addressing these factors means tackling barriers that affect real access to healthy foods. The combination of factors—access, affordability, language, and transportation barriers—captures the structural hurdles that can prevent someone from using nutrition knowledge in daily life. If a community lacks nearby healthy food options (access), cannot afford them (affordability), cannot understand materials or communicate needs (language), or cannot reach stores (transportation), education alone won’t change eating patterns.

Personal taste preferences or knowledge alone miss those bigger barriers. Taste is about individual preferences, and knowledge can be useless if people can’t act on it due to cost, access, language, or transit issues. Weather patterns can influence food supply, but they’re not the social determinants programs typically target to enable behavior change.

So, addressing access, affordability, language, and transportation barriers directly supports people in making healthier choices within their real-life circumstances.