ReviewNature food2022
A realist review of voluntary actions by the food and beverage industry and implications for public health and policy in low- and middle-income countries.
Review in Nature food, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Future Best Buys Can and Should Do More Comment on "Barriers and Opportunities for WHO 'Best Buys' Non-Communicable Disease Policy Adoption and Implementation From a Political Economy Perspective: A Complexity Systematic Review".International journal of health policy and management · 2025Pooled it
- Food selection, cardiorespiratory fitness and the longitudinal association with adiposity among South African school children: the ExAMIN Youth SA study.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2026Article
- Individual responsibility and the limits of U.S. dietary guidelines: addressing ultra-processed food consumption through structural policy.Public health nutrition · 2026Article
- Equal school meals for all - differentiation of school meals according to school social index.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Public health policies to prevent alcohol-related liver disease.Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2025Review
- Why addressing conflicts of interest is essential to progress in reducing commercially driven health harms: Lessons from tobacco.Future healthcare journal · 2025Article
- Understanding food choices and promoting healthier food options among online food delivery service users in Australia: a qualitative study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Front-of-package labelling: A public health imperative rooted in the right to health.International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
- Reclaiming the narrative: countering harmful commercial discourses.Health promotion international · 2024Article
- Recognizing the ethical complexity of food policies and the role of the food industry.Health promotion international · 2024Article
- A toxic relationship: ultra-processed foods & plastics.Globalization and health · 2024Article
- National Policies to Limit Nutrients, Ingredients, or Categories of Concern in School Meals: A Global Scoping Review.Current developments in nutrition · 2024Article
- Trends in the healthiness and nutrient composition of packaged products sold by major food and beverage companies in New Zealand 2015 to 2019.BMC medicine · 2024Article
- Ending Trans Fat-The First-Ever Global Elimination Program for a Noncommunicable Disease Risk Factor: JACC International.Journal of the American College of Cardiology · 2024Review
- Building a Systems Map: Applying Systems Thinking to Unhealthy Commodity Industry Influence on Public Health Policy.International journal of health policy and management · 2024Article
- The development of a method for the global health community to assess the proportion of food and beverage companies' sales that are derived from unhealthy foods.Globalization and health · 2023Article
- Recommended nutrition-related practices for online food delivery companies.Public health nutrition · 2023Article
- Participatory prioritisation of interventions to improve primary school food environments in Gauteng, South Africa.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Advertising Alternative Cancer Treatments and Approaches on Meta Social Media Platforms: Content Analysis.JMIR infodemiology · 2023Article
- Beverage industry's advertising expenditures and airtimes in South Africa from 2013 to 2019 target children and families.Journal of public health research · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The increasing availability of unhealthy processed food products is linked to rising rates of non-communicable diseases and obesity in low- and middle-income countries. Voluntary actions (VAs) are often adopted in lieu of regulating the composition, production, marketing and sale of unhealthy commodities, but their effectiveness is unclear. This realist review examines VAs adopted by the food and beverage industry in low- and middle-income countries. We developed a conceptual framework and followed a three-stage search to identify literature and VAs and, adhering to the Realist and Meta-narrative Evidence Syntheses: Evolving Standards (RAMESES) guidelines, we produced a synthesized analysis of VAs. VAs, often initiated in response to governments' efforts to introduce regulations, were difficult to evaluate due to vague language and a lack of enforcement mechanisms. The review found no evidence indicating that VAs are effective in safeguarding public health. Yet their implementation has resulted in weaker responses and policy substitution, and so we suggest that VAs have the potential to negatively influence public health and policy. The United Nations should rescind their endorsement of industry involvement and mandatory measures should be favoured over VAs.
Identifiers
37118592What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.