Governing evidence use in the nutrition policy process: evidence and lessons from the 2020 Canada food guide

Weldon, Isaac and Parkhurst, Justin ORCID: 0000-0003-0831-6213 (2022) Governing evidence use in the nutrition policy process: evidence and lessons from the 2020 Canada food guide. Nutrition Reviews, 80 (3). 467 – 478. ISSN 0029-6643

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Abstract

Nutrition guideline development is traditionally seen as a mechanism by which evidence is used to inform policy decisions. However, applying evidence in policy is a decidedly complex and politically embedded process, with no single universally agreed-upon body of evidence on which to base decisions, and multiple social concerns to address. Rather than simply calling for "evidence-based policy," an alternative is to look at the governing features of the evidence use system and reflect on what constitutes improved evidence use from a range of explicitly identified normative concerns. This study evaluated the use of evidence within the Canada Food Guide policy process by applying concepts of the "good governance of evidence" - an approach that incorporates multiple normative principles of scientific and democratic best practice to consider the structure and functioning of evidence advisory systems. The findings indicated that institutionalizing a process for evidence use grounded in democratic and scientific principles can improve evidence use in nutrition policy making.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://academic.oup.com/nutritionreviews
Additional Information:	© 2022 The Authors
Divisions:	Health Policy
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
Date Deposited:	14 Oct 2021 09:00
Last Modified:	28 Oct 2025 20:39
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/112430

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