Food Choice as a Dynamic Behaviour: An Integrative Narrative Review of Determinants, Theoretical Frameworks, and Behaviour-Change Approaches

Food choice is a multidimensional behaviour shaped by interactions among biological, psychological, social, cultural, economic, and environmental determinants. Understanding how these influences combine is essential for explaining food choice and identifying barriers to healthier dietary behaviours. This narrative review synthesises literature identified through searches of PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar and organises the determinants of food choice into food-related, individual, and socio-environmental domains. Food-related influences include sensory properties, palatability, and nutritional composition. Individual influences encompass appetite regulation, reward responses, emotions, nutrition knowledge, self-efficacy, habits, and learned experiences. Socio-environmental influences include household practices, cultural norms, affordability, accessibility, and marketing. The review also considers established behavioural theories, including the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the Health Belief Model, and Social Cognitive Theory, alongside behaviour-change approaches such as COM-B and nudge/choice architecture. The synthesis highlights how these domains may jointly facilitate or constrain healthier choices: nutrition knowledge may be limited by affordability and availability, emotional responses may interact with food reward and environmental exposure, and sensory acceptance may develop within family routines. Building on these relationships, the review links selected combinations of determinants to potential intervention priorities and specific research questions. Future research should distinguish stated preferences and intentions from observed purchasing and consumption and examine these relationships over time in everyday settings. This perspective can inform the development and evaluation of context-sensitive strategies for nutrition practice and public health.