Barriers and motivators for sustainable eating in the Czech Republic: A cross-sectional pilot survey

Background Sustainable healthy diets benefit human and planetary health, but evidence on self-reported awareness and dietary practices rema ins limited in Central and Eastern Europe. Aim To explore self-reported awareness and adherence, perceived barriers, and motivators related to sustainable eating among adults in the Czech Republic. Methods A cross-sectional online survey ( n = 192) was conducted from March to July 2025 using non-probability purposive and snowball sampling. The questionnaire addressed awareness, dietary behaviours, information sources, barriers, and facilitators. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and exploratory chi-square, Mann–Whitney U , and Kruskal–Wallis tests. Open-ended responses were reviewed descriptively; no formal qualitative analysis was conducted. Summary Seventy-one per cent reported familiarity with sustainable healthy diets, while median self-rated adherence was 5/10. The most frequently recognised principles were food waste reduction (74%) and consumption of local and seasonal products (72%). Major barriers were food cost (67%), lack of motivation (52%), and insufficient information (34%); key motivators were affordability (63%) and simple recipes (53%). Only 16% perceived school-based nutrition education as sufficient, 5% regularly used nutrition-related mobile applications, and 40% would attend a free course. This pilot study suggests a possible discrepancy between self-reported awareness and adherence among Czech respondents. Affordability, practical information, and nutrition education warrant further investigation. Given the exploratory design and non-representative sample, findings should be interpreted cautiously and used primarily to inform future research and evaluation of context-sensitive public health approaches.