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Improving Healthy Food Choices in Low-Income Settings in the United States Using Behavioral Economic-Based Adaptations to Choice Architecture

Low diet quality is a significant public health problem in the United States, especially among low-income populations. The food environment influences dietary choices. When applied to eating behavior, behavioral economics (BE) recognizes that decision biases instigated by a food environment saturate...

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Autores principales: Anderson, Emma, Wei, Ruobin, Liu, Binkai, Plummer, Rachel, Kelahan, Heather, Tamez, Martha, Marrero, Abrania, Bhupathiraju, Shilpa, Mattei, Josiemer
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8526839/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34692747
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2021.734991
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author Anderson, Emma
Wei, Ruobin
Liu, Binkai
Plummer, Rachel
Kelahan, Heather
Tamez, Martha
Marrero, Abrania
Bhupathiraju, Shilpa
Mattei, Josiemer
author_facet Anderson, Emma
Wei, Ruobin
Liu, Binkai
Plummer, Rachel
Kelahan, Heather
Tamez, Martha
Marrero, Abrania
Bhupathiraju, Shilpa
Mattei, Josiemer
author_sort Anderson, Emma
collection PubMed
description Low diet quality is a significant public health problem in the United States, especially among low-income populations. The food environment influences dietary choices. When applied to eating behavior, behavioral economics (BE) recognizes that decision biases instigated by a food environment saturated with unhealthy foods may lead people to purchase such foods, even when they possess the necessary information and skills to make healthy dietary choices. Choice architecture, a BE concept that involves modifying the appeal or availability of choices to “nudge” people toward a certain choice, retains freedom of choice but makes unhealthy options less convenient or visible. Choice architecture has been demonstrated to influence food choices in various settings, including supermarkets, convenience stores, and food pantries. These modifications are low-cost and feasible to implement, making them a viable strategy to help “nudge” patrons toward healthier choices in food establishments serving low-income populations, including food pantries and retailers accepting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. This narrative review searched, appraised, and underscored the strengths and limitations of extant research studies that used choice architecture adaptations to influence food choices among low-income populations in the United States. Findings from studies in food pantry settings suggest the potential of BE strategies to improve the healthfulness of food choices and dietary intake in low-income populations. In food retail settings, research suggests that BE strategies increase sales of healthy foods, like fruits and vegetables. We identify new areas of research needed to determine if BE-based modifications in low-income settings have sustained impacts on diet quality.
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spelling pubmed-85268392021-10-21 Improving Healthy Food Choices in Low-Income Settings in the United States Using Behavioral Economic-Based Adaptations to Choice Architecture Anderson, Emma Wei, Ruobin Liu, Binkai Plummer, Rachel Kelahan, Heather Tamez, Martha Marrero, Abrania Bhupathiraju, Shilpa Mattei, Josiemer Front Nutr Nutrition Low diet quality is a significant public health problem in the United States, especially among low-income populations. The food environment influences dietary choices. When applied to eating behavior, behavioral economics (BE) recognizes that decision biases instigated by a food environment saturated with unhealthy foods may lead people to purchase such foods, even when they possess the necessary information and skills to make healthy dietary choices. Choice architecture, a BE concept that involves modifying the appeal or availability of choices to “nudge” people toward a certain choice, retains freedom of choice but makes unhealthy options less convenient or visible. Choice architecture has been demonstrated to influence food choices in various settings, including supermarkets, convenience stores, and food pantries. These modifications are low-cost and feasible to implement, making them a viable strategy to help “nudge” patrons toward healthier choices in food establishments serving low-income populations, including food pantries and retailers accepting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. This narrative review searched, appraised, and underscored the strengths and limitations of extant research studies that used choice architecture adaptations to influence food choices among low-income populations in the United States. Findings from studies in food pantry settings suggest the potential of BE strategies to improve the healthfulness of food choices and dietary intake in low-income populations. In food retail settings, research suggests that BE strategies increase sales of healthy foods, like fruits and vegetables. We identify new areas of research needed to determine if BE-based modifications in low-income settings have sustained impacts on diet quality. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-10-06 /pmc/articles/PMC8526839/ /pubmed/34692747 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2021.734991 Text en Copyright © 2021 Anderson, Wei, Liu, Plummer, Kelahan, Tamez, Marrero, Bhupathiraju and Mattei. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Nutrition
Anderson, Emma
Wei, Ruobin
Liu, Binkai
Plummer, Rachel
Kelahan, Heather
Tamez, Martha
Marrero, Abrania
Bhupathiraju, Shilpa
Mattei, Josiemer
Improving Healthy Food Choices in Low-Income Settings in the United States Using Behavioral Economic-Based Adaptations to Choice Architecture
title Improving Healthy Food Choices in Low-Income Settings in the United States Using Behavioral Economic-Based Adaptations to Choice Architecture
title_full Improving Healthy Food Choices in Low-Income Settings in the United States Using Behavioral Economic-Based Adaptations to Choice Architecture
title_fullStr Improving Healthy Food Choices in Low-Income Settings in the United States Using Behavioral Economic-Based Adaptations to Choice Architecture
title_full_unstemmed Improving Healthy Food Choices in Low-Income Settings in the United States Using Behavioral Economic-Based Adaptations to Choice Architecture
title_short Improving Healthy Food Choices in Low-Income Settings in the United States Using Behavioral Economic-Based Adaptations to Choice Architecture
title_sort improving healthy food choices in low-income settings in the united states using behavioral economic-based adaptations to choice architecture
topic Nutrition
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8526839/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34692747
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2021.734991
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