Complementary roles for the personalized behavioural toolbox and public nudges in the sustainability of good food habits among consumers

Abstract

There is no shortage of knowledge about, or advice on, healthy eating yet we have a continuing paradox of poor diets in rich countries. People often choose to eat some foods too often or in excessive amounts even when they know better. In the longer term, poor diets cause individual health problems and pose a threat to the sustainability of publically-funded health care systems. Obesity, overweight and an increasing susceptability to diet-relaled diseases are now a major source of political and medical concern in many countries. How can people be persuaded to eat a better diet and generally eat less? This paper examines two approaches to the problem. One attempts to empower individuals in making healthier choices, the other focuses on our managing reactions to the way that choices are presented. These appraoaches are also very different in their view of the appropriate levels of public intervention in individual choice and beguilingly suggest different cost options for countries already struggling with economic difficulties. However, least cost may be wrong choice for health care sustainability.