Consumers’ Behavior Toward Healthy Foods: A Critical Review

Changing lifestyle patterns, characterized by a greater consumption of unhealthy and processed foods, has led to a fast increase in overweight and obesity. A better understanding of consumers’ behavior toward healthy foods could help food producers and policymakers to determine a shift to healthier dietary models and, thus, to achieve 2030 global nutrition targets. Therefore, the aim of this critical review was threefold: (i) to identify the main factors and sub-factors that can affect consumers’ behavior toward healthy foods; (ii) to discuss implications for food producers and policymakers; and (iii) to identify future research directions. Then, a total of 71 articles were identified and critically reviewed. A large variety of drivers have been found to affect healthy food choices among consumers, suggesting the need to consider all of them in implementing marketing strategies and food policies to efficiently meet consumers’ expectations and encourage the consumption of healthy foods, respectively. Finally, this review pointed out the lack of a clear definition of healthy foods by the competent Authorities. Furthermore, it is necessary to conduct further investigations into the strength of the effects of the identified factors for healthy foods, to better understand how they contribute to consumers’ decision-making.