A Review of Evidence-Informed Policy Making in Sustainable Healthy Food and Nutrition Systems

Abstract

Background and purpose: A safe food system provides the conditions for consumers to decide about and choose the food products. This systematic review describes the alternatives in order to achieve a healthy nutrition pattern in a food system that can be used to make changes in current policies. Materials and methods: An electronic literature search was done in Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Springer, ProQuest, Ovid, Magiran, Irandoc, Iranmedex using the following keywords: food and nutrition policy, evidence, food system, sustainability, healthy food, and sustainable food and nutrition system. Articles published between 2000 and 2018 in Persian and English that met the study inclusion criteria were selected. Results: In order to establish evidence-based policy four factors should be considered, including situation analysis, policy illustrations, analyzing the policy’s framework, and changes in policy. Conclusion: The food environments and systems are the basis for food choices of people. Indeed, guiding the food system toward safe and affordable approaches affect consumers’ nutrition patterns. In Iran, changes in food policy should be also socio-culturally appropriate

Keywords

• policy making
• food and nutrition policy
• sustainable
• healthy