Correlates of dietary behavior in adults: an umbrella review

In order to inform interventions to promote healthy eating, insights in the potential determinants of dietary behaviour is important. Interventions should target such determinants to initiate dietary behaviour change. Multiple studies have been conducted on potential determinants of dietary behavior in adults, but a clear overview is currently lacking. In an open access paper just published in the journal Nutrition Reviews, with Dr. Esther Sleddens as first author, we describe a so-called umbrella review -or a review-of-reviews-  to summarize and synthesize the scientific evidence on correlates and determinants of dietary behavior in adults. We included reviews published between January 1990 and May 2014 and 14 reviews were considered eligible. We evaluated the strength of the evidence, and the methodological quality.
Social-cognitive determinants and environmental determinants (mainly the social-cultural environment) were included most often in the available reviews. Sedentary behavior and habit strength were consistently identified as important correlates of dietary behavior. Other correlates and potential determinants of dietary behavior, such as motivational regulation, shift work, and the political environment, have been studied in relatively few studies, but results were rather consistent. Because of the generally weak research design of the studies covered in the available reviews, the evidence for true determinants is suggestive, at best.