RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Improving the diet quality of young adults may support chronic disease prevention. The approaches used and efficacy of promoting small dietary behavior changes through easy-to-learn (ETL) interventions (requiring no more than 1 hour to teach the behavior) among young adults have not yet been systematically reviewed. METHODS: Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, 2 independent electronic searches across 6 databases were conducted to identify any articles describing ETL interventions among young adults (aged 18-35 years) and reporting dietary intake outcomes. RESULTS: Among 9,538 articles identified, 9 studies met eligibility criteria. Five studies reported significant improvement in the selected dietary outcome. Of these, 3 studies used an implementation intentions approach, in which participants were given or asked to write out a simple dietary behavior directive and carry it on their person. Less than half of included studies were rated as positive for overall quality. DISCUSSION: The available evidence suggests that ETL interventions targeting the dietary behaviors of young adults may be effective in improving dietary intake. Limitations of included studies were lack of follow-up after the intervention period and low generalizability. IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH AND PRACTICE: Further dietary intervention studies targeting young adults should systematically evaluate the efficacy of ETL intervention approaches among diverse samples.