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How and why researchers and advocates should engage with state and local food policymaking

Nature Food volume 6, pages 232–238 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Unhealthy diets contribute to one in every five deaths in the United States, yet federal policy action to improve dietary quality has been limited. We argue that researchers and advocates should engage in state and local food policymaking, which offers an important complementary avenue for creating healthier food environments and improving diet quality. We outline key questions researchers can address to inform local and state policymaking and provide practical tips on how they can engage with the policy process. Finally, we present a case study of researcher engagement with the New York City Sweet Truth Act policy process.

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Acknowledgements

We thank C. Chelius and A. Zeitlin for research assistance.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA

    Anna H. Grummon

  2. Department of Health Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA

    Anna H. Grummon

  3. Healthy Food America, Seattle, WA, USA

    James W. Krieger

  4. Department of Health Systems and Population Health, University of Washington School of Public Health, Seattle, WA, USA

    James W. Krieger

  5. Department of Health Behavior, University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Marissa G. Hall

  6. Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Marissa G. Hall

  7. Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Marissa G. Hall

Authors
  1. Anna H. Grummon
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  2. James W. Krieger
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  3. Marissa G. Hall
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Contributions

A.H.G. and M.G.H. conceptualized the manuscript. A.H.G. drafted the paper with input from M.G.H. and J.W.K. M.G.H. and J.W.K. provided critical input on the draft.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anna H. Grummon.

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Competing interests

J.W.K. is employed by Healthy Food America, which has organizational policy positions and advocates for some of the policies included in this article. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Food thanks Simone Pettigrew, Laura Schmidt and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Grummon, A.H., Krieger, J.W. & Hall, M.G. How and why researchers and advocates should engage with state and local food policymaking. Nat Food 6, 232–238 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01142-x

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