Do you need a food nudge?

When was the last time you were nudged? If you are thinking that you can’t remember the last time you were nudged then remember that nudging doesn’t have to consist of a small, badly mustachioed, man in an ill-fitting plaid jumper digging you in the ribs with his elbow and saying, “Hey! Hey! A nod’s as good as a wink to a blind bat. Hey!” That’s the extreme end of the spectrum of nudging and a moment that most of us will hopefully avoid in a well-lived life, but nudging has more subtle manifestations as well. In fact a food nudging is a subtle practice that has been employed by food retailers for a long time. The good news is that according to a new review food nudging might be used to achieve healthy outcomes.

Nudging, also known as “choice architecture”, is the strategic manipulation of the environment to alter people’s behaviour in a particular way without actually forbidding any particular option or offering economic incentives. In other words it means placing things in such a way that people are pushed, or nudged, towards buying certain products. In the food industry that means certain products in certain places in the store, placing certain foods at adult eye level, and placing other foods at chid eye level.

It is tempting to immediately see this as an evil tool of the nasty food empire but the question these researchers wanted to answer was whether food nudging might be used to promote healthy food choices.

Even a small move towards healthier eating has been shown to improve the health and life expectancy of a population.

To examine this they looked at 18 previous studies on the topic. Analysis showed that 16 of the 18 studies showed that food nudging could be used to promote healthy food choices.

This means that by making it more difficult to reach less healthy food, or in a canteen situation making healthy food more prominent, we can influence food choices for the better. As the researchers point out, even a small move towards healthier eating has been shown in previous research to improve the health and life expectancy of a population. Now there’s some food for thought for our industry and political leaders… nudge, nudge, wink, wink.