Identification of three dietary groups in French university students and their associations with nutritional quality and environmental impact

IntroductionThe student period is associated with changes in eating habits, usually leading to diets of lower nutritional quality. However, some variability may exist in students’ dietary patterns. We aimed to describe French students’ diets and identify dietary groups that may vary in nutritional quality and environmental impact.MethodsA representative sample of French students (N = 582) for age, sex and scholarship status completed an online 125-item food frequency questionnaire. The nutritional quality of diets was assessed by a score of adherence to the French nutritional guidelines (sPNNS-GS2 score, ranging from−17 to 11.5) and its environmental impact by greenhouse gas emissions for an isocaloric diet (GHGE). An ascending hierarchical classification analysis on food and beverage intakes led to three dietary groups. Between-group differences in food consumption, dietary indicators and sociodemographic characteristics were investigated using ANOVA models.ResultsThe average sPNNS-GS2 score of students’ diets was −0.8 ± 2.8, representing a 57% coverage of French nutritional recommendations, and GHGE were 5.4 ± 1.7 kg eCO2/2000 kcal. The three dietary groups were: a healthy diet group (20% of the sample) with the highest nutritional quality and high GHGE, which included older students with a higher level of physical activity; a Western diet group (40%) with the worst nutritional quality and high GHGE, which included more students who lived with their parents; and a frugal diet group (40%) with the lowest energy intake, intermediate nutritional quality, and low GHGE, which included more students who lived alone.ConclusionNone of the dietary groups optimized both nutritional quality and environmental impact simultaneously, which suggests an apparent incompatibility in the student population between these two sustainability dimensions. These findings emphasize the need for tailored public health policies that acknowledge the diversity of student eating patterns and address specific individual barriers to healthy and sustainable diets

Quelle place pour la durabilité de l'alimentation chez les étudiants ? Une revue de la littérature des pratiques alimentaires des étudiants

National audienc

Availability of vegetarian main meals served in a university cafeteria of Dijon.

Effects of increasing the availability of vegetarian main meals served in a university cafeteria of Dijon on the sustainability of food choices

Behavioural determinants of healthy and environmentally friendly diets in French students

International audienc

Qualité nutritionnelle et impact environnemental de l'alimentation des étudiants : mise en évidence de trois typologies de mangeurs

National audienc

Protocol and statistical analysis plan - impact of environmental labelling on food choices: a randomized controlled trial in a virtual reality supermarket

A 2-arm randomised control trial (with and without labels) will be conducted to test the effects of an environmental label on food choices in a virtual supermarket. A sample of 130 participants will take part in two shopping tasks: 1/ selection of 3 products to prepare a home-made dish, and 2/ selection of a ready-to-eat dish. These two tasks will be repeated for two scenarios: 1/ participants will be asked to select the foods for usual meals, and 2/ participants will be asked to select the foods for environmentally-friendly meals. This experimental design will allow to compare food choices in the presence vs. the absence of an environmental label and to investigate whether the label is informative and likely to help individuals to choose more environmental-friendly food options when explicitly asked to do so

Effet d'un affichage environnemental sur les choix alimentaires des consommateurs : essai contrôlé randomisé dans un supermarché en réalité virtuelle

National audienc

Traffic-light front-of-pack environmental labelling across food categories triggers more environmentally friendly food choices: a randomised controlled trial in virtual reality supermarket

International audienceBackground Food systems highly contribute to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and shifting towards more environmentally friendly diets is urgently needed. Enabling consumers to compare the environmental impact of food products at point-of-purchase with front-of-pack labelling could be a promising strategy to trigger more environmentally friendly food choices. This strategy remained to be tested. Methods The effect of a new traffic-light front-of-pack environmental label on food choices was tested in a 2-arm randomised controlled trial in a virtual reality supermarket. Participants ( n = 132) chose food products to compose two main meals for an everyday meal scenario and for an environmentally friendly meal scenario with or without the label. The environmental label (ranging from A: green/lowest impact, to E: red/highest impact) was based on the Environmental Footprint (EF) single score calculation across food categories. The effect of the label on the environmental impact of food choices in each scenario was tested using linear mixed models. Results In the everyday meal scenario, the environmental impact of meals was lower in the label condition than in the no label condition (-0.17 ± 0.07 mPt/kg, p = 0.012). This reduction was observed at no nutritional, financial nor hedonic cost. The effectiveness of the label can be attributed to a change in the food categories chosen: less meat-based and more vegetarian meals were chosen with the label. In the environmentally friendly meal scenario, we demonstrated that the label provided new information to the participants as they were able to further reduce the environmental impact of their food choices with the label (-0.19 ± 0.07 mPt/kg, p = 0.005). Conclusions Implementing a front-of-pack environmental label on food products in real supermarkets could increase awareness of the environmental impact of food and contribute to drive more environmentally friendly food choices. Trial registration The study protocol was pre-registered prior to data collection at Clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04909372)

Reducing the environmental impact of consumers' food choices: what is the effectiveness of a cross-category environmental label?

International audienc