Changing diets - Testing the impact of knowledge and information nudges on sustainable dietary choices

Meike Morren,Jantsje M Mol,Julia E Blasch,Žiga Malek

doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101610

Meike Morren, Jantsje M Mol + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101610

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Abstract

A shift to more sustainable diets is needed to ensure food security and to reduce the pressure on the environment. Yet, many consumers have misconceptions about the environmental impacts of their diets and lack knowledge on how to prepare sustainable meals. This study uses a mixed-methods approach to develop four information nudges and to test their impact on dietary choices among a representative sample of Dutch consumers. A 2 × 2 between-subjects design crossing type of information (procedural versus declarative) with type of impacts (health versus environmental) is applied. The environmental impact is measured in terms of CO2 emissions, land use and water use. We find that pre-intervention knowledge about sustainable or healthy diets is related to the sustainability of participants’ dietary choices. Procedural knowledge on how to prepare a healthier meal has the greatest potential to influence dietary behavior, in particular for participants without prior self-reported dietary restrictions.

Highlights

In the coming decades, society will have to provide food security for the growing global population, while at the same time shifting to healthier diets (WHO, 2004, pp. 1–385) and decreasing human impact on the climate, freshwater and biodiversity (Bruinsma, 2017; Hoekstra & Mekonnen, 2012; Smith et al, 2008)
The results further showed that health motivations and biospheric concerns have a positive correlation with green consumption values, contrary to hedonism, which has a negative correlation
Simi larly high correlations between land use and greenhouse gas emissions have been observed in other life cycle assessments, such as Vellinga et al (2019)

Summary

Introduction

Society will have to provide food security for the growing global population, while at the same time shifting to healthier diets (WHO, 2004, pp. 1–385) and decreasing human impact on the climate, freshwater and biodiversity (Bruinsma, 2017; Hoekstra & Mekonnen, 2012; Smith et al, 2008). Society will have to provide food security for the growing global population, while at the same time shifting to healthier diets The challenge of combining food security with decreasing human impact on the planet may be approached with demand side strategies which target dietary change and the reduction of food waste (Alexander et al, 2017; De Laurentiis et al, 2018). Measures to promote sustainable food consumption need to be designed in the light of persistent consumer misconceptions regarding sustainable food choices (Camilleri et al, 2019; Lazzarini et al, 2017, 2018). Food misconceptions are not limited to the definition of sustainability, but are observed in varying interpretations of what is a ‘balanced diet’ (Dickson-Spillmann & Siegrist, 2011)

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