Impact of Nutrition Health Policy on Outcomes

Nutrition health policy is designed to improve diet quality, thereby preventing nutrient deficiencies and reducing the risk of certain chronic diseases. This chapter overviews select methods that may be used to evaluate health policy, with a specific focus on nutrition as a modifiable risk factor for health outcomes. It describes five nutrition policies or systems that are influential factors in promoting public health nutrition: national school lunch programs, nutrition education (the example being the US Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education), menu labeling policies, taxation of low-nutrient dietary components (e.g., sweetened beverages), and the social networks that influence nutrition policy. The chapter presents an example that examines policy influence through social networks. Strengths and weaknesses of each method to evaluate health policy are discussed in order to promote best practices for future research.