title: Nudging consumers towards healthier choices: a systematic review of positional influences on food choice.
abstract: Nudging or 'choice architecture' refers to strategic changes in the environment that are anticipated to alter people's behaviour in a predictable way, without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. Nudging strategies may be used to promote healthy eating behaviour. However, to date, the scientific evidence has not been systematically reviewed to enable practitioners and policymakers to implement, or argue for the implementation of, specific measures to support nudging strategies. This systematic review investigated the effect of positional changes of food placement on food choice. In total, seven scientific databases were searched using relevant keywords to identify interventions that manipulated food position (proximity or order) to generate a change in food selection, sales or consumption, among normal-weight or overweight individuals across any age group. From 2576 identified articles, fifteen articles comprising eighteen studies met our inclusion criteria. This review has identified that manipulation of food product order or proximity can influence food choice. Such approaches offer promise in terms of impacting on consumer behaviour. However, there is a need for high-quality studies that quantify the magnitude of positional effects on food choice in conjunction with measuring the impact on food intake, particularly in the longer term. Future studies should use outcome measures such as change in grams of food consumed or energy intake to quantify the impact on dietary intake and potential impacts on nutrition-related health. Research is also needed to evaluate potential compensatory behaviours secondary to such interventions.
authors.affiliation: 1Nutrition and Dietetics,School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medicine,The University of Newcastle,University Drive,Newcastle,Callaghan NSW 2300,Australia.
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bucher
authors.affiliation: 1Nutrition and Dietetics,School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medicine,The University of Newcastle,University Drive,Newcastle,Callaghan NSW 2300,Australia.
authors.forename: Clare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.affiliation: 1Nutrition and Dietetics,School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medicine,The University of Newcastle,University Drive,Newcastle,Callaghan NSW 2300,Australia.
authors.forename: Megan E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Rollo
authors.affiliation: 3Department of Nutrition and Dietetics,School of Clinical Sciences,Monash University,Melbourne,VIC 3168,Australia.
authors.forename: Tracy A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: McCaffrey
authors.affiliation: 1Nutrition and Dietetics,School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medicine,The University of Newcastle,University Drive,Newcastle,Callaghan NSW 2300,Australia.
authors.forename: Nienke
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: De Vlieger
authors.affiliation: 1Nutrition and Dietetics,School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medicine,The University of Newcastle,University Drive,Newcastle,Callaghan NSW 2300,Australia.
authors.forename: Daphne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Van der Bend
authors.affiliation: 3Department of Nutrition and Dietetics,School of Clinical Sciences,Monash University,Melbourne,VIC 3168,Australia.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Truby
authors.affiliation: 4Sensory and Consumer Section,Department of Food Science,University of Copenhagen,Rolighedsvej 26,1958 Frederiksberg C,Denmark.
authors.forename: Federico J A
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1270-2678
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Perez-Cueto
mesh_terms: D002755:Choice Behavior; D003132:Commerce / Q000379:methods; D000072001:Diet, Healthy; D005518:Food Preferences; D005522:Food Services; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans
keywords: Choice architecture; Environmental influences; Food choices; Food position; Nudging; Order; Proximity