Current controversies with active surveillance management of small renal masses.
Authors: Kronstedt S, Saffati G, Yu B, Hinojosa-Gonzalez DE, Dothan D, Altok M, Singer EA, Kauffman EC
Journal: Mini-invasive surgery
mental health
psychology
open access
Abstract
Understanding why people make the food choices they do and how these choices are often subtly shaped by commercial actors is an urgent challenge for the public health community. Food environments are saturated with signals that influence how consumers perceive and evaluate products, and these cues increasingly shape nutritional judgments in ways that may not reflect underlying nutritional quality (; ; ). Experimental evidence consistently shows that perceptions of food healthiness shape dietary behaviours, with products perceived as healthier more likely to be selected or valued more highly, even when not aligned with their nutritional profile (; ; ). This micro-level mechanism can scale to population-level effects, as perception-driven dietary behaviours accumulate and shape health outcomes (; ). The commercial determinants of health offer a broader framework for interpreting these dynamics, highlighting how corporate strategies influence the interpretation of food-related information (). These pressures are intensifying as food systems undergo rapid transformation, with major implications for both human and planetary health, given the central role of diets in driving global health outcomes and climate change (). Within this context, food marketing and labelling have become powerful forms of exposure, embedding product cues that can steer perceptions of healthiness and influence choice. These perceptual processes are particularly relevant as they can shape food choices, even in the absence of changes in underlying nutritional quality (). Sustainability labels and claims are a prominent example: now widely used to signal environmental or ethical attributes, they represent an evolving and increasingly influential category of product information (). In this review, sustainability labels and claims refer broadly to certified and non-certified sustainability cues displayed on food products, including labels, certifications, scores, logos, and textual claims communicating environmental, climate-related, social, or ethical attributes. These encompass environmental information, including eco-scores, messages linked to recycling or food waste reduction, plant-based or vegan labels, fair-trade certifications, and corporate sustainability practices. While such labels and claims may encourage shifts towards more sustainable diets, they may also shape health perceptions in ways that diverge from nutritional reality, underscoring the need to examine their broader public health impact ().