A recent study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior
calls for modernized public health strategies as online grocery shopping, digital marketing, and artificial intelligence increasingly shape how Americans access and purchase food
March 5, 2026 – A
research report in the
Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior (JNEB), published by Elsevier, examined how the rapid digitalization of the retail food environment is reshaping food access in the United States and highlights implications for public health nutrition research, practice, and policy. The authors describe how online grocery platforms, mobile food delivery applications, artificial intelligence (AI), and digital marketing are transforming the way consumers encounter and purchase food.
The report outlines both opportunities and risks associated with this digital transformation. Expanded online grocery access, including nationwide availability of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) online purchasing, has the potential to increase convenience, particularly for rural communities and households with limited mobility. Digital tools may also support navigating the built environment, meal planning, improving access to nutrition information while shopping, and creating opportunities for personalized health promotion strategies.
At the same time, researchers note that digital retail platforms frequently promote less healthy products, including foods high in added sugars, sodium, and saturated fat. Algorithm-driven marketing and targeted promotions may influence purchasing behaviors by prioritizing certain products, encouraging impulse buying, and reinforcing past purchasing patterns. These practices raise important concerns about health equity, particularly for households with low incomes and marginalized populations who may be more vulnerable to digital marketing strategies.
The authors argue that traditional food access frameworks must evolve to reflect this increasingly digital landscape. They recommend modernizing definitions and measurement approaches to account for digital availability, accessibility, affordability, acceptability, and accommodation of food. The report also calls for the development of new assessment tools capable of evaluating online marketing practices, digital product placement, pricing strategies, and algorithmic influences.
“The retail food environment is increasingly digital, and this should change how we perceive, study, and measure food access,” says lead author Jared McGuirt, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor, Department of Nutrition and Public Health Sciences, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. “Digital interfaces now often shape what consumers see and understand about their food environment, what is promoted to them, what ends up in their shopping carts, and ultimately what they end up eating.”
These findings highlight opportunities for innovative interventions in-store and online, including digital nutrition labeling systems, healthy default shopping carts, online nudges, and consumer education strategies to build resilience against unhealthy digital marketing tactics. The authors also emphasize the need for policy and systems-level approaches to promote transparency, protect consumer data, and ensure that digital food environments support, rather than undermine, health equity.