Exploring awareness, attitudes, practices, and sociodemographic determinants of sustainable diets among young adults in Pune, India

Increasing environmental consciousness among young adults, particularly in developing countries such as India, is crucial to building resilient, sustainable food systems aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Given existing gaps in food sustainability and practices, this study examined young adults’ awareness, attitudes, and practices regarding sustainable diets. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 401 adults aged 18–25 years, using a validated and modified Sustainable Diet Questionnaire (SUSDQ) consisting of six domains and 70 items, in addition to sociodemographic characteristics. Independent sample t-test and one-way ANOVA were performed using SPSS Statistics software version 29.0.2.0. A p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. The mean age of participants was 22.49 ± 2.36 years, the majority were females (52.6%) with graduate degrees (52.4%) and most of them (62.1%) were non-vegetarians. The higher mean scores were noted for awareness regarding of aspects of sustainable diet (5.20 ± 0.92), and for attitudes such as environmental concerns: 4.36 ± 0.74 and food sustainability opinions: 4.15 ± 0.53. However, the mean scores for practices were slightly lower (3.98 ± 0.72). Sustainable diets were reported to be safe and hygienic (5.43 ± 1), high nutritional value and healthy (5.40 ± 1), fresh and high food quality (5.39 ± 1), less food waste (5.36 ± 1.1), and free from synthetic fertilizers and pesticides (5.32 ± 1.1). Despite knowing aspects of sustainable diets, participants reported lesser awareness regarding concepts of sustainable diets (71.6%), and carbon footprints (62.8%). While overall mean practice scores were relatively lower but favourable, certain sustainability behaviours (e.g., reducing food waste, avoiding imported foods, and adopting plant-based alternatives) were less commonly practiced. Further, socio-demographic determinants, including socioeconomic status, occupation, education, and diet type, were significantly associated with awareness, attitude, and practices of sustainable diets ( p < 0.05). Despite high environmental consciousness among Indian youth, driven by awareness and attitudes, few sustainable diet practices were less common, highlighting the need to investigate barriers and motivators that will stimulate policy-making and planning interventions to support the global food sustainability efforts.