Eco-awareness and Eating Guilt

As awareness of climate change grows, young people may increasingly adjust their food choices based on environmental considerations, which may promote sustainability but also contribute to restrictive eating patterns and eating-related guilt. Using data from the MyVoice National Poll of Youth, a text message-based survey of U.S. youth aged 14-24 years, we examined associations between environmental awareness, ecomotivated dietary changes, and eco-related eating guilt through inductive content analysis of open-ended responses from 538 participants. An exploratory chi-square test assessed associations between advanced environmental awareness and high eco-related eating guilt. Most respondents demonstrated some environmental awareness (68%), and 38% reported changing their diet for environmental reasons. Youth reporting high eco-related eating guilt (16%) were more likely to show advanced environmental awareness than those without high guilt (14% vs. 6%, P =0.004). Findings suggest that environmental food messaging may have unintended psychosocial consequences and highlight the importance of integrating mental health considerations into nutrition and sustainability education.