Nutritional Health Literacy in Children and Adolescents: Educational Tools, Behavioural Determinants, and Preventive Strategies

Nutritional health literacy is increasingly recognized as a key determinant of dietary decision-making and long-term cardiometabolic health. During childhood and adolescence, cognitive development, social influences, and school environments create both vulnerabilities and opportunities for shaping lifelong habits.Educational initiatives implemented in school and community settings have attempted to improve young people’s understanding of food labels, dietary recommendations, and food processing concepts. However, tools differ in complexity, pedagogical approach, and cultural adaptation, and their effectiveness may vary depending on developmental stage, socioeconomic context, and family environment.Moreover, nutritional knowledge alone may not translate directly into behavioural change, highlighting the need for integrated models that consider psychological, environmental, and structural determinants of food choice.Children and adolescents are increasingly exposed to complex food environments characterized by ultra-processed products, digital marketing, and conflicting nutrition messages. At the same time, non-communicable diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes continue to rise globally, with behavioural risk factors often established early in life. Improving nutritional health literacy, defined as the ability to access, understand, interpret, and apply nutrition-related information, has emerged as a promising preventive strategy.Despite the growing implementation of front-of-pack labelling systems, food processing classifications, dietary guidelines, and digital educational tools, evidence regarding their comparative effectiveness in youth populations remains fragmented. This Research Topic aims to advance understanding of how educational strategies can strengthen nutritional health literacy in children and adolescents and how these improvements may support healthier dietary behaviours and long-term disease prevention. By integrating intervention research, behavioural science, and policy perspectives, this collection seeks to identify effective and scalable approaches adapted to young populations.This Research Topic welcomes multidisciplinary contributions addressing nutritional health literacy in children and adolescents. We particularly encourage submissions covering:• School-based nutrition education interventions.• Front-of-pack labelling systems and food processing classifications.• Digital tools, gamification, and e-health strategies.• Behavioural and psychosocial determinants of dietary decision-making.• Development and validation of health literacy assessment instruments.• Cross-sectional studies examining associations between nutritional literacy, dietary behaviours, anthropometric markers, or metabolic risk.• Longitudinal and cohort studies exploring literacy trajectories over time.• Socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental determinants.• Policy evaluation and implementation research in school and community settings.We welcome a broad range of manuscript types, including Original Research Articles (randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental designs, cross-sectional studies, and longitudinal studies), Systematic Reviews, Meta-analyses, Methodological Studies, and Policy Perspectives. Interdisciplinary approaches integrating nutrition science, public health, psychology, education, and behavioural economics are strongly encouraged. Topic editors: Desirée Victoria-Montesinos, Antonio Roberto Martínez Fernández Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78173/nutritional-health-literacy-in-children-and-adolescents-educational-tools-behavioural-determinants-and-preventive-strategies