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Digitalization is shaping the environments, behaviours, and systems through which people access, choose, and produce food, yet nutrition has received limited attention within growing scholarly and policy debates on the digital determinants of health. This perspective argues that the digital transformation is shaping nutrition through pathways that are sufficiently distinct and far-reaching to warrant dedicated attention. We propose that there must be a concerted focus on addressing the digital determinants of nutrition (DDoN), defined as structural conditions that influence nutrition through shaping the characteristics, features, uses, and governance of digital technologies and ecosystems, in future research and policy action. Drawing on a narrative review of literature at the intersection of digital transformations and nutrition, we identify five major pathways through which digital technologies are currently shaping nutrition outcomes: precision nutrition solutions; digital nutrition education and information; digital food environments; digital marketing and content; and digitally transformed agriculture and food systems. Across these pathways, digital transformations present both significant opportunities and serious risks for nutrition, with structural risks often disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations. Establishing DDoN as a recognized domain within health promotion would enable a more coordinated, multi-sectoral response and help ensure that digital governance agendas account for their nutritional consequences.
Agarwal et al. (Wed,) studied this question.