Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40458851›Full record

ArticlePublic health nutrition2025

The role of policy actors' belief systems and interests in framing public health nutrition problems: a case study of obesity in Australia.

Patricia Ribeiro de Melo, Phillip Baker, Priscila Pereira Machado, Elly Howse, Tanita Northcott, Mark Lawrence

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Public health nutrition, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Patricia Ribeiro de MeloSchool of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Wadawurrung, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-5010-3292
Phillip BakerThe University of Sydney, School of Public Health, Gadigal, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Priscila Pereira MachadoSchool of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Wadawurrung, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-4607-5094
Elly HowseNSW Government, Gadigal, Sydney, NSW, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-2879-4573
Tanita NorthcottSchool of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Wadawurrung, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-0834-1729
Mark LawrenceSchool of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Wadawurrung, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-6899-3983

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveThis study investigated how the belief systems and interests of policy actors shaped their framing of the causes and solutions to obesity and how this influenced policy recommendations.

designSubmissions to the Select Committee on Obesity Epidemic in Australia (SCOEA) were collected, and actors were classified according to their interests in commercial and non-commercial groups. A framework grounded in social constructionism was used to code frames and underlying belief systems. The SCOEA report was analysed to identify the representative distribution of belief systems in recommendations.

settingAustralia.

participantsNone.

results150 submissions were collected and analysed. 120 submitters were actors with non-commercial interests, including governments (

conclusionThese findings illustrate how policy actors' beliefs and interests shaped their frames and influenced the development of a key policy report. Policymakers seeking to advance obesity prevention policy must critically evaluate strategic framing by various actors and ensure that policy decisions are evidence-based and aligned with health, equity and ecological perspectives.

Indexed as

Health PolicyNutrition PolicyObesityPolicy MakingPublic HealthAustraliaFood IndustryHumansBelief systems and interestsFood and nutrition policyFrame analysisObesity

Identifiers

PMID40458851
PMCPMC12264778

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.