Research

Mixed

Nutrition policy change is primarily determined by political will and public will rather than the strength of scientific evidence alone.

To influence nutrition policy, do not rely solely on scientific data. Focus on building political will by engaging policy entrepreneurs, creating visible public support, and framing solutions in ways that align with political ideologies (e.g., protecting children) rather than just citing health benefits.

ModerateQualifiesHIGH confidence
The findings from the present review confirm that evidence is only one component of influencing policy change. For policy change to occur there needs to be the political will, and often the public will, for the proposed policy problem and solution.
Katherine Cullerton et al. · Public Health Nutrition · 2016

Why this rating

Based on a systematic review of 63 qualitative and mixed-method studies, providing strong thematic evidence but not causal experimental data.

Source

Playing the policy game: a review of the barriers to and enablers of nutrition policy change

Katherine Cullerton et al. · Public Health Nutrition · 2016

DOI 10.1017/s1368980016000677

systematic_review · n=63Cited 194×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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