Evaluation of adult individuals' nutrition knowledge levels and their attitudes and behaviors towards environmentally friendly nutrition

This study was conducted with 275 volunteer individuals between the ages of 19-64 in order to examine the relationship between the nutritional knowledge level of adult individuals and their environmentally conscious eating behavior. "Descriptive Questionnaire Form" questioning the general characteristics of the participants; "Nutrition Knowledge Level Scale For Adults (NKLSA)" measuring nutritional knowledge; "Green Eating Survey (GES)" determining attitudes and behaviors towards environmentally friendly nutrition and 'Food Consumption Frequency' were applied face to face by the researcher. The mean score of "Basic Nutrition and Food Health Knowledge" and the mean score of "Food Preference" were found to be 55.00±7.68 and 37.81±5.52, respectively. The factors affecting basic nutrition and food health knowledge were found to be age, gender and educational status, while the factors affecting correct food preference were found to be age and gender (p<0.05). The nutritional knowledge of individuals aged 40-64 years, males and those with an education level of high school or less was found to be significantly lower than the other groups (p<0.05). It was determined that 53.7% of the participants, who were questioned about environmentally sensitive nutrition and asked to choose a statement representing the stage they perceived, were not ready for change. Green eating behavior differs between age groups and it was found that the average environmentally conscious eating behavior score of individuals aged 40-64 years was significantly higher than those aged 19-24 years (p<0.05). No significant difference was found between the age, gender, marital status, educational status, employment status and BMI groups at the GE stage of change (p>0.05). In this study, it was determined that there is a positive relationship between nutritional knowledge and environmentally friendly nutrition. Individuals with adequate nutrition knowledge are more likely to adopt an environmentally friendly diet, or individuals with an environmentally friendly diet have more nutrition knowledge. In this direction, it is of great importance to raise awareness by providing nutrition education on proper and sustainable nutrition to individuals in the society from an early age.