Searching for a Measure Integrating Sustainable and Healthy Eating Behaviors

Abstract

Sustainable and healthy food-related behavior is high on the public policy and research agenda due to its potential to cope with negative environmental and health outcomes. There are several measures related to sustainability in food choices but there have not been many attempts to integrate sustainable and healthy eating (SHE) behaviors into one measurement instrument so far. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to identify how young adults interpret the SHE concept and to develop an instrument that measures a self-reported consumer’s SHE behavior. The process of scale development involved an exploratory qualitative study and two quantitative studies. As a result of 20 individual in depth interviews with Polish young adults, 50 items were generated reflecting their perspective on principles of SHE (Study 1). Two samples were used in the scale validation process: n = 217 (Study 2) and n = 220 (Study 3). Via principal component analysis, reliability analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis, the final form of the scale was derived. The proposed 34-item scale offers insights into the most relevant aspects of SHE behaviors, grouped in eight factors: “healthy and balanced diet”, “certification and quality labels”, “meat reduction”, “selection of local food”, “choice of low fat food products”, “avoidance of food waste” and purchase and consumption of food products that are respecting “animal welfare” and finally choice of “seasonal food”. Although the developed scale can benefit from further refinement and validity testing in different cultural and social background, it is clear that the scale, as developed, can be a useful tool for researchers who are interested in the study of SHE behaviors.

Reshaping the Traditional Pattern of Food Consumption in Romania through the Integration of Sustainable Diet Principles. A Qualitative Study

“…Table 2 shows the most consumed Romanian traditional food products and dishes during the three main meals of the days and snacks. The dishes (especially those for lunch and dinner) are homemade, with respondents generally being home-cooking oriented, a feature of Romanian consumers stressed out in previous research [29][30][31]62]. Most female respondents of the sample are used to cooking several dishes at the end of the week in larger quantities, which are consumed alternately during the following week.…”

“…However, sustainable diets should not be only healthy and environmentally friendly as it was highlighted in most research to date [29,30,[43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50], they should also be culturally appropriate, promoting and preserving traditions that involve culturally acceptable foods [1,94]. Due to the increasing interest of consumers for traditional foods that has been noticed lately [53,63,65], there is a hope for future development of sustainable diets.…”

“…Because of all dimensions of sustainable diet "healthy" has been considered the most important one [25], much research to date has focused on it [25][26][27][28][29][30]. Whilst the issue of health is crucial for nowadays sustainable food system, food is also implicated in the cultural identity, both individual and collective and expresses cultural ways of being [6,[31][32][33][34][35][36].…”

Research on Food Behavior in Romania from the Perspective of Supporting Healthy Eating Habits

“…Nevertheless, the above described behavior cannot be generalized, because, as recent studies show, there are segments of young consumers interested in healthy diet [78,79]. Moreover, the research ofŻakowska-Biemans et al [21] emphasized the positive image of sustainable food among young adults from Poland, who directly associate it with healthiness, balance, and varied eating behavior.…”

“…To highlight the consumers' perception on sustainable diet and their willingness to adopt its principles, a lot of studies have been done lately. Although most of them focused mainly on the issue of diets and their impact on human health, the environment, and food systems [17], they show that the importance of the topic of healthy and sustainable diet for consumers is on the rise [21][22][23][24].…”