Are eco-sustainable dietary patterns associated with impulsiveness? An insight from Italy

Abstract

Impulsivity is known to influence food choices. We explored possible differences in its expression between individuals with or without an eco-sustainable diet and its relationship with cognitions and behaviours about eco-sustainable foods. Participants were categorised as having or not having an eco-sustainable diet. Impulsivity traits and cognitions and behaviours about sustainable food products were measured. Among the 332 participants, 92.78% showed an eco-sustainable diet, whereas only 7.22% had an eco-sustainable diet. No difference between groups emerged about impulsive traits, whereas significant differences emerged in cognitions and behaviours about sustainable foods, with the only exceptions of subjective norms and past behaviour. Impulsive traits were linked to cognitions and behaviours differently within groups. Impulsivity traits may be related to actions towards eco-sustainable foods, with the perception of their availability playing a crucial role. Increasing contextual opportunities may be fundamental for having eco-sustainable consumers

Keywords:

• Eating habits
• eco-sustainability
• impulsivity
• food choice

Acknowledgements

This research was part of the F.B’s graduation dissertation for the Master Degree in Human Nutrition at the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Italy. The Authors thank Dr. Marco Vassallo (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA) – Rome, Italy) for having provided us the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) questionnaire.

Author contributions

Conceptualisation: M.E.N., am, and F.S.; Methodology: M.E.N, A.P., and F.S.; Software: M.E.N.; Formal analysis: F.S.; Data curation: M.E.N., F.B. and A.P.; Writing – Original Draft: F.S.; Writing – Review and Editing: M.E.N.: Supervision: am; Funding Acquisition: am and F.S.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The dataset generated and analysed in this study is available in the Zenodo repository (10.5281/zenodo.8321659) on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

For this research, M.E.N. and A.P. were supported by the Italian Minister of Research’ PON “Research and Innovation” funding and partially supported by the IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano (Ricerca Corrente).