Do drivers of food choice differ between healthy and less healthy foods? 🧠

How to design food environments.

Do the Drivers of Food Choice Differ Between Healthier and Less Healthy Foods? A Systematic Review of Reviews

Study Details

This new umbrella review of 59 reviews compared what drives choices of healthier vs less healthy foods in adults from high-income countries 📚

Here are the key findings ⬇️

Key Findings

SHARED DRIVERS (AFFECT BOTH HEALTHY & LESS HEALTHY FOOD CHOICES) 🔄

🌍 Food environment – availability, accessibility, and exposure

👥 Social norms – household, peers, cultural patterns

💷 Income & resources – general financial capacity

🏥 Health status – medical conditions or health priorities

DRIVERS OF HEALTHIER FOOD CHOICES 🥦

🧠 Nutrition knowledge – knowing what is healthy

❤️ Health consciousness – motivation for wellbeing

👩 Female gender – consistently linked to healthier patterns

🔎 Deliberate choices – more intentional planning and selection

DRIVERS OF LESS HEALTHY FOOD CHOICES 🍟

💸 Price & affordability – cheaper, energy-dense options

⏱️ Lack of time – fast, grab-and-go decisions

😵 Stress & emotional eating – convenience-driven behaviours

🛵 Need for convenience – ease outweighs health considerations

Conclusion

Healthy vs unhealthy food choices are not driven by the same factors ❌

Policies must target specific drivers rather than assuming symmetry 🎯

The above list can also be useful in helping practitioners design food environments to promote positive and attenuate negative food choices for athletes ✅

Reference

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41217204/

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