Adapted by:
Pablo Martínez-Juarez
WriterEnvironmental economist and science journalist. For a few years, I worked as a researcher on the economics of climate change adaptation. Now I write about that and much more.
Alba Mora
WriterAn established tech journalist, I entered the world of consumer tech by chance in 2018. In my writing and translating career, I've also covered a diverse range of topics, including entertainment, travel, science, and the economy.
Nudge theory refers to strategies designed to gently guide people toward specific decisions. The concept is commonly associated with behavioral economics, a field that combines economics and psychology to understand human behavior.
Companies frequently use these “nudges” to encourage people to make more profitable purchases. However, can you apply this to improve your health?
Digital tool. A team of researchers at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore recently created a digital tool designed to help you select healthier products while shopping online. The findings were published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
An imperfect system. Choosing healthier food products isn’t always easy. While you can try to fill your shopping cart with fruit, vegetables, and other staples for cooking at home, this option isn’t always realistic.
Labeling systems can help people make better choices, but they have significant limitations. First, assessing the healthfulness of a product using a simple index can be challenging and may lead to inconsistencies. Second, indexes compete with marketing strategies designed to persuade consumers to buy products, regardless of their actual healthiness.
Beyond labeling. To address existing limitations, the Duke-NUS team developed a digital tool designed to enhance nutritionally informed online shopping. This tool provides additional information that complements the details displayed on the online shopping page.
The tool features a traffic light system based on the Nutri-Score index, which is used by the World Health Organization. It prioritizes listing the healthier options at the top, rather than arranging them alphabetically.
In addition, the tool tracks the products in the shopping cart, indicating the percentage of items labeled green, yellow, and red. Moreover, it offers healthy alternatives–similar in price and characteristics–to the selected products.
Testing. The team conducted an experiment to test the tool. Researchers asked a group of participants to make three online purchases over a period of three to six weeks. Some participants used the new tool, while others used the conventional online store.
The results showed that the shopping carts of those in the intervention group had a better nutritional index. Their carts contained fewer calories, less total fat, lower saturated fat, and reduced amounts of sugar and salt.
A matter of public health. Many people are seeking to eat healthier, whether by choice or necessity. This journey begins with making better shopping choices. However, achieving this goal alone can be challenging, and helping others without imposing strict rules or methods can also be difficult.
This is where behavioral economics and nudge theory come into play. The same techniques often used by retailers to encourage advantageous purchasing decisions can also be applied to help consumers who want to improve their diets.
Image | Nathan Jeon
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