The evaluation of sustainable nutrition knowledge level and adherence to the Mediterranean diet in adults.

The rapid increase in the global population has led to environmental and nutritional challenges. There are many harmful factors to the environment at various stages, from food production to consumption. It has been more recently understood that nutrition, the environment, and human health are inseparable, and that improvements are needed not only in food production systems but also in personal lifestyles and food choices. This study aims to evaluate the level of knowledge about sustainable nutrition and adherence to the Mediterranean diet in adults aged 18-64 years. A total of 140 volunteer adults (90 women and 50 men) aged between 18 and 64 years participated in the study. Participants who agreed to join the study were informed about the research, and the prepared survey form was administered face-to-face. The survey included questions about the participants' sociodemographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements, health status, eating habits (number of meals, meal skipping and its reasons, etc.), food consumption frequencies, 24-hour dietary recall, physical activity levels, as well as their adherence to the Mediterranean diet and their level of knowledge about sustainable nutrition. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS-26 program. The average age of the participants was 25.9 ± 9.04 years. Body mass index (BMI) was 23.5 ± 4,03 kg/m² for men and 19.6 ± 4.26 kg/m² for women (p <0.05). 79.3% of the participants had a normal BMI. The average physical activity level (PAL) was 1.75 ± 0.19. The adherence to the Mediterranean diet among participants was found to be low, medium, and high in 25.0%, 62.1%, and 12.9%, respectively (p <0.05). 62.0% of men and 62.2% of women had previously heard of the concept of sustainable nutrition (p>0.05). The mean total score of the responses to the Sustainable and Healthy Eating Behavior Scale was 113,951±1,0053 for men and 114,182±1,1980 for women (p>0.05). There was no significant gender-based difference in the participants' attitudes toward healthy and balanced eating, quality labels (local/organic), limiting meat consumption, local food consumption, reduced fat intake, avoiding food waste, animal health and welfare, and seasonal food consumption (p>0.05). A significant positive relationship was found between sustainable nutrition knowledge and adherence to the Mediterranean diet score (p<0.05). A significant negative relationship was found between sustainable nutrition knowledge and BMI value (p<0.05). However, no significant relationship was found between the Mediterranean diet adherence score and age (p>0.05).