College Students' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Toward Sustainable Diets: A Cross-Sectional Approach

Sustainable diets are essential for addressing environmental degradation, nutrition inequities, and health burdens driven by current food systems. However, research on the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards sustainable diets among young adults in the US remain limited. Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study examines college students’ KAP toward sustainable diets and explores potential determinants that may influence students’ dietary behaviors including TPB constructs such as perceived behavioral control and subjective norms. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among a convenience sample of 137 students enrolled at UNC Chapel Hill during the 2025-2026 academic year. Students’ KAP of sustainable diets were assessed using previously validated tools generating numerical scores in which higher values reflected greater knowledge, more positive attitudes, and more favorable practices. Using the Modified Bloom’s 60% criterion, KAP scores were also categorized as high or low, respectively. In addition, students’ perceived barriers towards adoption of sustainable diets and their learning preferences and interests in expanding their knowledge in this topic were explored. Descriptive statistics were generated in Microsoft Excel and presented as means and standard deviations (mean ± SD) and as frequencies and proportions n (%). Using Bloom’s cutoffs, KAP scores showed that the majority of students demonstrated poor knowledge of sustainable diets (71.7%) and unsustainable practices (75.7%), while attitudes toward sustainable eating were predominantly positive (89.3%). Common barriers reported amongst students in the study sample included limited time, cost, and convenience of fast foods that collectively hinder students’ ability to choose and prepare sustainable meals. However, interest in learning was high, with 87% of students expressing interest in learning more about sustainable diets using different formats, including social media posts, printed materials, podcasts, and virtual events. Our study findings showed that a gap remains between good knowledge and favorable intentions towards more sustainable dietary choices, yet limited practices that translate this interest into actionable measures. These results suggest that addressing persistent financial, logistical, and social barriers while also promoting students’ sustainability-related knowledge and intentions are essential for supporting sustainable dietary practices. Educational efforts and campus‑based interventions, in addition to food system-level policies and programs that offer accessible, affordable options may help young adults translate motivation into consistent behavior and help promote healthier and more sustainable choices during college years and beyond. Further efforts are also needed to explore how scientific evidence can be translated into national dietary guidelines that promote human health while also ensuring environmental sustainability and planetary health.