Making Healthy Food Choices Easier

Purpose: Worldwide strategies to mitigate noncommunicable diseases are constantly being developed. However, research on individual private initiatives and cross-disciplinary work highlighting the role of sludges as frictions, complicating choices in favour of people's well-being, and education has not been explored thoroughly. On this matter, there is increasing recognition of the need for transdisciplinary approaches that integrate research across different systems. To address these challenges, this thesis is structured around three complementary work packages. The first examines the role of private nutrition policies implemented by supermarkets as key actors shaping food environments and influencing consumer behaviour. In the second, the thesis takes a broader approach, examining the specifics of human behaviour interacting with the food environment. It conceptualises how frictions, "sludge", within food environments may prevent individuals from acting in accordance with their intentions to make healthier choices. The third one takes a withering step at the population level and explores how education and knowledge-transfer initiatives may strengthen food literacy, professional capacity, and societal engagement in food system transformation. Methodology: A mixed-methods approach was adopted across three complementary studies. The first study employed a systematic literature review to analyse private nutrition-related policies in food retail environments. The second combined a literature review, expert interviews, and a Delphi questionnaire to explore behavioural frictions within food environments. The third study included a narrative analysis of two case studies and a mixed-methods survey administered to graduate-level students. Key Findings: Overall, the findings highlight the importance of approaching food choices and noncommunicable diseases holistically. Existing governmental initiatives can be complemented by private initiatives that may simply require greater harmonisation and coordination. In addition, the thesis conceptualises a key concept that raises several new questions for experimental research in the field of food behaviour. Experts identified barriers to healthy behaviour as both significant and concerning, emphasising the relevance of social determinants of health. These barriers may reflect an ethically problematic reality within out-of-home food environments. Finally, education for human welfare complements these measures by building the literacy, participation, and professional capacity needed to recognise these barriers, challenge them, and translate evidence into sustained action across institutions and communities. Contribution: One of the key contributions of this thesis is its approach to human health through three interconnected spheres: policy, theory, and practice. If food environments are active determinants of health, then the ethical standard is straightforward: healthy choices should not require additional time, expertise, or privilege; rather, they should be the default outcome of well-governed systems and the path of least resistance. By highlighting hidden barriers within food environments that have received limited attention in recent decades, this thesis encourages younger generations and professionals from diverse disciplines to engage with the multidisciplinary challenges surrounding food, nutrition, and health, and to contribute to initiatives aimed at improving human welfare.