The acceleration of economic growth over the past few decades introduces the need to reorient policy to address the needs and challenges for a healthier population. This paper will review the effectiveness of national nutrition policies targeting overweight, healthy diets during pregnancy, infancy and childhood, and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) across advanced economies and transitional economies. The level of expansion and industrialization of food systems around the world have had a direct impact on nutritional status and health. Considering the magnitude of nationwide public health responses to shifts in mortality have varied over time, this introduces the need to assess the ability for dietary-related policies to successfully reduce NCDs. Results from this analysis can provide a strong rationale as to when interventions will be most effective as well as ways in which we can carry out a timely response in establishing effective policies for countries at different levels of economic development.