ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition and Sustainable Diets
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Sustainability in Global Nutrition and Food ManagementView all 3 articles
The Role of Polyphenol Intake and Ecological Awareness in Shaping Sustainable Nutrition
Provisionally accepted
- Istanbul Gelisim Universitesi, Istanbul, Türkiye
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Background: This study aimed to examine the relationship between dietary polyphenol intake, adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD), sustainable and healthy eating behaviors, and ecological footprint awareness among Turkish adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Istanbul between January-May 2024 with 197 adults. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS), the Sustainable and Healthy Eating Behaviors Scale (SHEB), the Awareness Scale for Reducing Ecological Footprint (ASREF), and a one-day dietary record. Total polyphenol intake was estimated using the Phenol-Explorer database. Data were analyzed with Spearman correlation and multivariate regression. Results: A total of 87.8% of participants showed low adherence to the MD. Mean polyphenol intake was 1615.98 ± 640.82 mg/day. Polyphenol intake was moderately positively correlated with MEDAS scores (r = 0.456, p < 0.01) and weakly correlated with SHEB scores (r = 0.147, p < 0.05). SHEB and ASREF scores demonstrated a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.498, p < 0.01). In regression models, ecological footprint awareness emerged as the strongest predictor of sustainable and healthy eating behaviors. Conclusion: Despite overall low adherence to the MD, higher polyphenol intake was associated with greater compliance. Ecological footprint awareness was the most significant determinant of sustainable dietary practices, highlighting the importance of combining polyphenol-rich foods with strategies that enhance environmental consciousness to promote public health and sustainability.
Keywords: Polyphenol intake, Mediterranean diet adherence, Sustainable eating, sustainable nutrition, eating behaviors, ecological footprint awareness
Received: 11 Oct 2025; Accepted: 30 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Bayram and Ozturkcan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Arda Ozturkcan, turkcana@hotmail.com
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