Motivações para adoção de práticas alimentares saudáveis e sustentáveis

Abstract

Food choices have a significant impact on health and the environment, and food systems are undergoing rapid transformation, with important implications for human and environmental health. Agriculture accounts for a substantial portion of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, contributing about 26% of total emissions. Within the agricultural sector, livestock and fishing play a particularly relevant role, contributing about one-third of GHG emissions associated with food production. Connecting sustainability discourse with Food and Nutritional Security (FNS) is necessary to create a coherent narrative for sustainable transition. Understanding the individual and collective factors that lead individuals to adopt adequate and healthy dietary practices, as well as sustainable attitudes, is relevant for designing effective educational actions in food and nutrition. This study aims to investigate the motivations that may influence individuals' food choices, relating such factors to meat consumption, vegetarianism, and ecological behavior. Methodology: Volunteers who agreed to participate in the research completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ), the Scale of Attitudes and Beliefs between Vegetarianism and Meat Consumption, and 10 questions based on the Ecological Behavior Scale (ECE). Cluster analysis was performed to identify respondents' profiles based on the Food Choice Questionnaire and the Ecological Behavior Scale. Cluster profiles were analyzed by cross-tabulation and chi-square test with sociodemographic variables, with differences in frequency distribution considered significant when p < 0.05. Results: From the studied sample (n=186), there was a predominance of female respondents (66.2%) and white skin color (64.3%). With a proportion of respondents between 18 and 50 years old totaling 84.9%, evenly distributed across the age ranges of 18 to 24, 25 to 35, and 36 to 50 years, with 12 years of schooling (high school completion) (44.6%), and with income between 1 to 2 minimum wages (26.3%). Two clusters were formed based on the analysis of variables related to reasons for food choices (1a and 2a), and two clusters were formed using variables related to ecological behavior (1b and 2b). The analyses allowed identifying that the most prioritized dimensions in food choices were "sensory appeal," "health," and "price." "Natural content" was the least considered dimension by the Clusters. The most common reasons reported by the Clusters for meat consumption were "because it was introduced to me since childhood" and "taste." Conclusion: The results of the present study indicate that the main predictors for lower meat intake or for a meatless diet are health and well- being. No differences were observed in motivations for adopting healthy and sustainable dietary practices between individuals with more environmentally conscious behaviors and the other group with less environmentally conscious behaviors. Subjects showed reluctance to change their diets towards a more sustainable direction.