The effects of policy actions to improve population dietary patterns and prevent diet-related non-communicable diseases: scoping review

Abstract

Poor diet generates a bigger non-communicable disease (NCD) burden than tobacco, alcohol and physical inactivity combined. We reviewed the potential effectiveness of policy actions to improve healthy food consumption and thus prevent NCDs. This scoping review focused on systematic and non-systematic reviews and categorised data using a seven-part framework: price, promotion, provision, composition, labelling, supply chain, trade/investment and multi-component interventions. We screened 1805 candidate publications and included 58 systematic and non-systematic reviews. Multi-component and price interventions appeared consistently powerful in improving healthy eating. Reformulation to reduce industrial trans fat intake also seemed very effective. Evidence on food supply chain, trade and investment studies was limited and merits further research. Food labelling and restrictions on provision or marketing of unhealthy foods were generally less effective with uncertain sustainability. Increasingly strong evidence is highlighting potentially powerful policies to improve diet and thus prevent NCDs, notably multi-component interventions, taxes, subsidies, elimination and perhaps trade agreements. The implications for policy makers are becoming clearer.

Parental experience of counselling about food and feeding practices at the child health centre: A qualitative study

“…It is acknowledged that the effect of nutrition education as such is modest and usually decreases over time. In contrast, governmental pricing interventions making healthy foods more affordable than unhealthy foods appear consistently powerful in promoting healthy eating habits (Hyseni et al, ).…”

The Economic Impact of Government Policy on Market Prices of Low-Fat Pork in South Korea: A Quasi-Experimental Hedonic Price Approach

“…In an attempt to examine the consistency of our findings, we compared our results to other studies which used disparate approaches on examining the impacts of food policy implementation such as tax or subsidy on food consumption patterns [37][38][39]. These studies found that the government policy have an influence on change in the consumption patterns for particular foods.…”

“…Darmon et al [37] and Hyseni et al [38] particularly found the evidence that pricing mechanism (price intervention) on increase and decrease in prices of unhealthy and healthy foods through taxes and subsidies can change food consumption patterns and improve the nutritional quality of diets. Miller and Cassady [39] investigated the impact of providing additional nutrition information on healthy dietary intake promotion.…”

Fiscalidade ao Serviço da Saúde Pública: A Experiência na Tributação das Bebidas Açucaradas em Portugal

“…Nesse contexto os hábitos alimentares desadequados assumem um papel relevante enquanto principal fator de risco evitável. De acordo com a literatura, 17 as estratégias de alteração de hábitos alimentares por parte das populações devem ser transversais a diferentes áreas e abordagens, das quais se destacam a educação para a saúde, promoção da literacia, e as que visam alterações do ambiente alimentar e que podem ir desde a autorregulação (i.e. redução do sal no pão) a uma utilização inteligente da fiscalidade.…”