This publication examines the complexity of the digital world for improved nutrition. Digital technology, in and of itself, cannot fix the world’s food and nutrition problems, nor mend its dysfunctional food systems. However, once improving nutrition is deemed a priority, digital technologies are important tools. The potential of digital technologies to improve nutrition is phenomenal, but so are the risks that these technologies might entail.

Most of the articles presented in the publication consider the potential-risk duality in a range of food-system perspectives– from food production, transformation and distribution to digital food marketing and retail; from behavioural change and capacity-building, including through social media, to the generation, processing and use of data; and from the protection of vulnerable groups to issues of inequality and human rights.

The theme of Nutrition in a Digital World was chosen long before COVID-19 hit. Digitalization has been playing a key role ever since, enabling vital parts of the world economy to continue functioning, allowing stakeholders to remain connected and providing access to numerous public services, including those directly related to the pandemic. This was another wake-up call on the need to enhance knowledge on this topic and further the debate on the potential benefits and adverse impacts of innovative digital technologies in helping to achieve sustainable healthy diets and progressively realize the right to adequate food.

Note: This publication was developed under the auspices of the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN), one of the precursors to UN-Nutrition.