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Sustainability is crucial for transforming the food system, addressing environmental and nutrition issues and depends on consumer perceptions and values. This cross-sectional study investigates the relationship between sustainability attitudes, knowledge, and eating behaviours. Nearly half reported high level of knowledge regarding food sustainability while 24% expressed high attitude towards food sustainability. Women reported higher levels of knowledge and attitude towards food sustainability. Logistic regression analyses, adjusted for age, sex, and education, revealed that using public transport, biking, or walking was significantly associated with higher odds of having a more positive overall attitude towards food sustainability (OR = 1.77). The overall knowledge score was a strong predictor of a positive overall attitude score (OR = 2.11). Examining individual knowledge-related items, almost all were associated with higher levels of knowledge, except those regarding food and environment interaction. These findings underline a complex scenario where consumers' awareness and knowledge highly influence the applicability of sustainable food choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the possible relationship between chronotype, sleeping, and eating patterns in 74 Italian adults (71.6% women). Based on Morningness-Eveningness Questionnare (MEQ) score, participants were classified as morning (n = 24), intermediate (n = 25), and evening (n = 25) chronotypes. From analysis, no significant differences among chronotypes emerged for sleep habits. As to eating behaviours, the evening subjects showed a significant (p < 0.05) shift towards later hours of the day in the consumption of all meals, except dinner. In addition, the evening subjects had a later midpoint of energy intake (EI) of about 35 min and 1 h (p < 0.001), respectively, than the intermediate and morning subjects. Analysing the diet quality, morning subjects reported significantly (p = 0.030) lower consumption of sweets and sweeteners, and significantly (p = 0.035) lower intake of ultra-processed fats and seasonings. Evening subjects showed a significant delay in EI during the day, while morning subjects reported a better-quality diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aims of this study were to assess the Mediterranean Diet (MD) adherence in 2566 Italians who completed the validated Medi-Lite questionnaire during the year 2020, and to investigate the effect of COVID-19 confinement on dietary habits and MD adherence. To do this, we compared subjects (n = 389) that answered the questionnaire during the confinement occurred in Italy from March to May 2020 with subjects (n = 653) who completed the questionnaire in the same period (March–May) of the previous year (2019). From the results, a moderate level of MD adherence in the total sample emerged, and a significantly (p<.0001) increased adherence during lockdown was observed. Specifically, during confinement significantly (p < 0.05) higher consumption of vegetables (+9.4%), legumes (+13.5%) and pasta (+12.9%) emerged, while lower consumption was reported for bread (−13.4%) and meat and meat products (−15.4%). This study showed increased adherence to MD and a better-quality diet during the COVID-19 confinement in Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]