Promoting Healthy Eating: A Whole-of-System Approach Leveraging Social Network Brokers

Addressing the proliferation of poor diets and related diseases requires new initiatives that will change food systems. How to change these systems is a challenging question. We argue that a promising approach is to leverage the network of social actors who make up the backbone of food systems, who can influence peoples’ eating behaviors and the broader food environment. Two key leverage points that bridge the communities in this system are: (a) community health workers who have ties to individuals and families at high risk for poor diets and (b) community coalitions who can implement community-level changes. Their trusted and diverse relationships may be critical to activating, coordinating, and diffusing the resources, programs, and policies needed to improve multilevel features of food systems.