Human food choice, eating behavior, and nutrition form a fascinating and complex behavioral system. This becomes obvious when we consider that food choices and eating behaviors show great diversity across individuals, and populations. Have a closer look inside.
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Determinants of what?

The DONE framework is a framework of the determinants of food choice, eating behavior and nutrition. However, it is often unclear which behaviors and outcomes exactly are referred to with these terms. Research on eating and diet is scattered across many disciplines, and successful synthesis of evidence on determinants is only possible when there is a clear definition and shared understanding of the exact dietary outcomes that are assessed.

Toward a shared understanding of dietary outcomes

Many qualitatively distinct outcomes (ranging from foraging for food to food ingestion, from the intake of single nutrients to patterns of entire diets, from disordered eating to eating habits, and from food preferences to food preparation) can be grouped under the broad umbrella terms food choice, eating behavior and nutrition. Currently, no consistent terminology that is shared across disciplines is available for these many different concepts. This complexity of outcomes, paired with a lack of terminological clarity, consistency and consensus has hindered the the development of a cumulative science regarding the determinants of dietary outcomes.

Creating a standardized taxonomy

In order to resolve this lack of consistency and consensus, the members of the DONE team first participated in an online mind mapping procedure to identify the outcomes for which we would subsequently identify the determinants. Using a four-step procedure, each working group member first supplied all diet-related outcomes they knew of, assessed themselves, or read about in the scientific literature. Secondly, these inputs were structured into a first version of the taxonomy by the workgroup leaders, which was then discussed among all work group members during a live discussion. This resulted in a second version of the taxonomy, which was further discussed and refined by a core group of team members. From this discussion resulted the final version of the taxonomy, which includes a total of 34 distinct dietary outcomes. The taxonomy can be downloaded below.

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Advantages of a standardized taxonomy

A standardized taxonomy offers several advantages to determinant research: (1) it illustrates the large extent of diversity that exists within this topic; (2) it allows for standardized application of definitions; (3) it encourages international and cross-disciplinary understanding and knowledge exchange; (4) it expedites the pooling of results from determinant research across countries and disciplines.

Additional methodological information

Additional methodological information about the creation of the taxonomy can be obtained from the journal article written about it.

This article is currently undergoing scientific review and is available upon request.

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Are you interested to see the results?

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Pariticipating institutes

The DONE framework was developed in the context of the European research network and knowledge hub DEDIPAC (Determinants of Diet and Physical Activity). More than 40 institutes have contributed to the creation of the DONE framework.

Funding Agencies

The preparation of this paper was supported by the Determinants of Diet and Physical Activity (DEDIPAC) knowledge hub. This work is supported by the Joint Programming Initiative ‘Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life’.

Done Team

The following thirteen people contributed to the scientific article in which the DONE framework is described.

Dr. Marijn Stok

Postdoctoral researcher at the department of psychological assessment and health psychology, University of Konstanz, Germany

Prof. Dr. Britta Renner

Professor of psychological assessment and health psychology, University of Konstanz, Germany

Prof. Dr. Stefan Hoffmann

Department of Marketing, Kiel University, Germany

Prof. Dr. Dorothee Volkert

Institute for Biomedicine of Aging, Friederich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany

Prof. Dr. Heiner Boeing

Department of Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE), Germany

Prof. Dr. Regina Ensenauer

Head of Experimental Pediatrics & Metabolism, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and Research Group ‘Molecular Nutrition’, Research Center University Children’s Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany

Dr. Marta Stelmach-Mardas

Department of Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE), Germany

Dr. Eva Kiesswetter

Institute for Biomedicine of Aging, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany

Dr. Alisa Weber

Experimental Pediatrics and Metabolism, University Children’s Hospital, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany

Prof. Dr. Harald Rohm

Chair of Food Engineering, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany

Prof. Dr. Nanna Lien

Research Group Public Health Nutrition, Institute of Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway

Prof. Dr. Johannes Brug

Dean and professor of Health Education & Health Behavior, Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Prof. Dr. Michelle Holdsworth

Public Health section, ScHARR- School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, UK

70 Members & 129 Experts

In addition to these 13 authors, 70 other members of the DEDIPAC team contributed to the creation of the framework. After the framework was created, 129 external experts evaluated the framework and helped rate the determinants.

Additional information and articles

Below, you will find articles with additional information about the DONE framework and press releases related to the DONE framework.

Integration and development of a cross-European research network and infrastructure

The DONE framework is an output of the DEDIPAC project. This paper, published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, describes the focus, organization, aims, management and dissemination of the DEDIPAC project and knowledge hub.
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The DONE framework: Creation, evaluation, and updating of an interdisciplinary, dynamic framework 2.0 of determinants of nutrition and eating

The DONE framework has been published in the scientific interdisciplinary journal PLOS ONE. You can download it here, or access it from the PLOS ONE website; click here. Supplemental files are also available from PLOS ONE.
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Systematic review of predictors of food decision making: application of the DONE framework

The DONE framework has been used in a systematic analysis of the field of consumer food decision making research published in the scientific journal Appetite. A systematic interdisciplinary mapping (SIM) review was conducted to identify the literature on predictors of food decision making. The predictors identified in this literature were categorized according to the DONE framework, which shed light on both 'hot topics' as well as gaps in the current knowledge base.
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