Mapping the global evidence on nutrition transition: a scoping review protocol

Nutrition transition has emerged as an important concept in health research used to describe shifts in dietary consumption and energy expenditure that coincide with economic, demographic and epidemiological changes at a population level. Better understanding of the shifts in dietary patterns across populations and their drivers could possibly hold the key to prevention of diet-related disease risk. An increasing number of studies have reported on nutrition transition in populations around the world, however, global evidence has not been summarised.

This scoping review is aimed to identify, explore and map the literature on nutrition transition with a specific focus on dietary changes in populations across the world. The review would allow better clarification around the concept of nutrition transition, classification of published studies and provide a framework for further research.

The scoping review will be designed based on the methodology by Arksey and O'Malley, refined by Levac et al. and developed in conjunction with guidance on conducting systematic scoping reviews by Peters et al. The main research question addressed by the scoping review will be: 'What is the evidence on nutrition transition defined based on dietary changes reported in general adult population across the world?' Electronic databases (PubMed, ScienceDirect and Web of Science), grey literature sources and the reference lists of key studies will be searched to identify studies appropriate for inclusion in the review. Two reviewers will independently screen all abstracts and full-text studies for inclusion. Data will be abstracted into tables and logically organised according to items addressed in the specific research questions.

Dissemination of results will be sought through a peer-reviewed publication, conference presentations and stakeholder meetings. The data used are from publicly available secondary sources, so no ethical review would be required for this study.