Infographic – Nudge, Boost and Self-Nudge: three tools to support behavioural change strategies

Behavioural approaches are key to encouraging higher fruit and vegetable intake without resorting to coercive measures. In particular, food nudges act on “choice architecture” – for example, by changing the presentation, availability or visibility of fruit and vegetables – in order to guide decisions at the time of purchase or consumption. Boosts aim to strengthen individuals’ ability to make informed food choices, mainly through the acquisition of nutritional knowledge, practical skills or simple decision-making rules. More recently, self-nudges have focused on empowering consumers by encouraging them to structure their own domestic food environment (fridge organisation, meal planning, personal reminders). These approaches differ in the degree of autonomy granted to individuals and the expected sustainability of the dietary changes they lead to. Taken together, they offer a particularly suitable framework for designing public policies and interventions to promote healthier, more sustainable food.