Digital Food Literacy and Sustainable Eating Behaviors Across the Life Course

The field of nutritional epidemiology is rapidly evolving as digital environments increasingly influence individual and collective food choices. The proliferation of digital platforms, such as social media, mobile applications, influencer content, and algorithm-driven recommendations, has reshaped how people access, interpret, and act upon information related to nutrition and sustainability. Despite this, the interaction between digital food literacy (DFL) and sustainable eating behaviors remains insufficiently understood, particularly in relation to the broader determinants of health, non-communicable disease prevention, and planetary wellbeing. Recent studies have begun to map out the associations between digital exposure and dietary outcomes, yet there are ongoing debates regarding how to measure DFL as an epidemiologic exposure, address potential inequalities, and link these digital determinants to meaningful health and environmental metrics. Major challenges remain in harmonizing measurement tools, integrating ecological sustainability metrics, and understanding the pathways and modifiers of these relationships across diverse populations and age groups.This Research Topic aims to deepen our understanding of how digital food literacy shapes sustainable eating behaviors throughout the life course. Key objectives include: developing clear and validated constructs for digital food literacy; quantifying associations between DFL, diet quality, nutrient adequacy, and environmental outcomes; examining how social inequalities and digital divides affect these relationships; and advancing robust methods to incorporate digital trace data and ecological indicators into nutritional epidemiological research. Furthermore, this Research Topic seeks to identify effective intervention strategies and policy recommendations that foster both equitable access to digital literacy and the promotion of sustainable dietary behaviors, while ensuring that advancements do not inadvertently widen existing health disparities.To gather further insights in the relationships between digital food literacy, sustainable eating, and health across different life stages, submissions are welcome that address a variety of themes, while focusing on the boundaries of nutritional epidemiology as it intersects with digital exposure and sustainability. The scope is bounded to empirical research, methodological advances, and policy analyses that link digital literacy, diet, and sustainability outcomes. We encourage contributions on, but not limited to, the following themes:o Conceptual frameworks for defining and measuring digital food literacy in nutritional epidemiologyo Validation studies and cross-cultural adaptation of DFL and diet sustainability toolso The impact of digital media platforms, influencer marketing, and online food environments on dietary behaviorso Assessment of digital interventions, apps, and nudges aimed at promoting sustainable eating across age groupso Epidemiological studies addressing social inequalities, digital divides, and their role in modulating DFL and dietary outcomeso Methods for tracking and quantifying sustainable eating behaviors using environmental and nutrient adequacy metricso Evaluation of policies and interventions targeting equity and ethical governance in digital food environments Topic editors: Zeynep CAFEROGLU AKIN, Yahya Ozdogan, Hacı Ömer Yılmaz Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78318/digital-food-literacy-and-sustainable-eating-behaviors-across-the-life-course