Population approaches to promote healthful eating behaviours

This chapter presents an overview of the latest research on population-based interventions to promote healthful food choices. It begins by providing an overview of the theoretical models and conceptual and intervention issues. Intervention strategies are presented by specific settings: worksites, schools, and other community settings including government food programmes and policies that affect individuals and families. Cross-cutting strategies include individual and environmental-level interventions such as promotion, advertising, and media; food pricing; and availability. The chapter does not aim to present an exhaustive review of the literature. Rather, important 'state of the science' research theories and intervention strategies are presented, and illustrative studies are described that provide strong examples of a particular theoretical or methodological approach. The overall aim is to illustrate the most promising intervention strategies and conceptual models to date, and to define the next steps for developing the most effective research-based interventions to promote population-wide, healthful food choices and dietary intake.