Nutrition knowledge, attitude, and practice of sustainable healthy diets: a survey of Italian college students (the KAPSULE study)

A key challenge in the nutrition field is identifying strategies to encourage the adoption of sustainable healthy diets (SHD). Current evidence suggests that greater nutritional knowledge is associated with a higher likelihood of choosing a healthy diet. However, the level of knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to SHD within the Italian population has been scarcely investigated so far. The aim of the present work is to validate a questionnaire assessing knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding SHD among college students attending the University of Milan. A total of 1,491 students completed the questionnaire, which included 26 items and was divided into 3 sections related to knowledge, attitudes, and practices of SHD. Results from the present study show that cultural and social contexts influenced both the nutritional and environmental attitudes of the consumers involved. Consequently, nutritional and environmental attitudes affect nutritional and environmental practices. The results also demonstrate that attitude indirectly affects practice through knowledge, which may play a pivotal role in fostering the transition towards SHD in the Italian population. Administering this questionnaire to a larger sample of the Italian population will help clarify which gaps prevent greater adherence to SHD and support the design of interventions to address these gaps.