Nudges to promote healthy eating in schools: policy brief

Overview

This policy brief summarizes the rationale and evidence around nudges for promoting healthy eating in school settings. It aims to increase awareness of the opportunities for nudges in a school food setting, and proposes action points for decision-makers to implement nudges for healthier eating in schools. Evidence shows that the implementation of nudge-based interventions can contribute to improving the school food environment and facilitating the selection and consumption of food and beverages that contribute to a healthy diet in children. With or without intervention, there is a prevailing choice architecture already in place. On this basis and given the relatively low cost of implementation, nudges within school food settings to support healthy eating should be instigated to complement other efforts such as school food and nutrition policies and food procurement for healthy diets.