Loading article...
Loading article...
Stream/Area:
-
Subject:
-
Paper ID:
IJSREM65770
Volume:
10 |
7 |
Jul 2026
Pages:
1-10
Publication Frequency:
Monthly (12 issues per year)
License:International Journal of Scientific Research in Engineering and Management follows the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) License, allowing free use and distribution with proper attribution.

Management Studies
R V Institute Of Management
Management Studies
R V Institute Of Management
Management Studies
R V Institute Of Management
Being conglomerates of future consumers and decision-makers, universities have unmatched potentials to become living laboratories of sustainable dietary change. The food system of the world is at a cross-road. Food production and consumption patterns are one of the most impactful areas of human ecological influence as they account for an estimated 29% of total greenhouse gas emissions due to human activity and cover about 38% of the terrestrial surface on Earth (Poore & Nemecek, 2018). The eating habits of the new adult demographics, namely university students, are a strategically important and under-researched field of intervention within this larger crisis. India provides a very interesting case study to this question. The blistering urbanization, a growing number of university graduates, and the further geographical separation of students of their native areas form new socio-ecological processes, which western-centric literature fails to represent. The current research, which is based on primary surveys of 292 students of universities (MRSL Dataset, 2025), aims to empirically measure the dietary and environmental consequences of such transitions, evaluating them through internationally recognized measures of sustainability and nutrition. The paper is designed in such a way that it creates an analytical journey; beginning with theoretical grounding and identification of the research gap, through the methodological rigor, to the presentation of the empirical results, as well as policy-specific conclusions. It helps the SDG 12 responsible consumption and production requirement by offering granular, evidence-based understanding of the determinants and effects of the student food behavior in the Indian university setting.
KEYWORDS
This paper gives an in-depth, empirically evidence for sustainable food intake among university The students of Bengaluru, showing a cluster of moderately fed, partially-planetary-diet, suggests that there is a group of moderately nourished and partly non-planetary diet consumers. adherents with a considerably high environmental footprint as compared to sustainability levels. Four Point of policy and scholarly significance conclusions emerge; Residential food environments have a greater impact on dietary outcomes than residential autonomy per se. Meals that are not “meat-meat” (embedded in) but are plant-based, low ultra-processed. the university provided systems proactively lead to the pro-inflammatory consumption pattern. among their participants being produced (DII = +0.338) - a phenomenon that requires an Prompt food service response from institutional food service administrators. Animal proteins are the most significant dietary environmental factors among students. Almost perfect co-determination of carbon, water and land use effects. First, dietary interventions at the campus level should be targeted at reducing the frequency of The cultivation of animal proteins rather than default plant-based proteins, behavioral, and social interventions, and incentives in the form of prices. The knowledge-action gap is institutionally deep-rooted. The level of sustainability awareness is high and not related to the sustainable dietary practice in the case of time poverty, infrastructure Food illiteracy, lack of culinary skills, and barriers. The nutritional education programs will only generate It is the educated, but unsustainable eaters that must be accompanied by structural change. The real culprit may be lack of money, it seems. Students with lower budgeting demonstrate similar or better scores on PHDI, suggesting that the concept of “personal budget” is self-evident in the lower-level, which parallels other findings of the study. sustainable diets, based solely on affordability, could be misleading on what the key source The most leveraged leverage is on behavior change. In accordance with the requirements of SDG 12 to promote responsible consumption and This study contributes to the move towards a comprehensive approach to campus food as part of the broader efforts towards production. foods, and formal, informal, or experiential learning in food preparation environments. Food plant cafeteria services, systematic culinary literacy, and formal, informal, and experiential learning in food preparation environments. food systems, and food-tracking of culinary footprints of dietary choices in institutions. Being In turn, universities have unparalleled possibilities to connect with future consumers and decision makers, in the form of conglomerates. Potentials to be living laboratories for sustainable dietary change.
Arcadu, M., & Aleffi, (2025). Food sustainability and university students: An analysis of dietary changes after leaving home. Journal of Nutritional Ecology and Food Research. EAT-Lancet Commission (Willett, W., et al.) (2019). Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. The Lancet, 393(10170), 447–492. Gifford, R. (2011). The dragons of inaction: Psychological barriers that limit climate change mitigation and adaptation. American Psychologist, 66(4), 290–302. Gerson, M., et al. (2013). Research on farmers' markets and Diet Quality: Operationalizing Dietary Quality Measurement Scale (ODQMS). Public Health Nutrition. Shivappa, N., et al. (2014). Designing and developing a literature-derived, population-based dietary inflammatory index. Public Health Nutrition, 17(8), 1689–1696. Springmann, M., et al. (2018). Options for keeping the food system within environmental limits. Nature, 562(7728), 519–525. University of Rijeka Study (2009–2025). Longitudinal analysis of Mediterranean Diet and PHDI adherence among university students. Aguirre Sánchez, L., Roa-Díaz, Z. M., Gamba, M., Grisotto, G., Moreno Londoño, A. M., Mantilla-Uribe, B. P., Rincón Méndez, A. Y., Ballesteros, M., Kopp-Heim, D., Minder, B., Suggs, L. S., & Franco, O. H. (2021). What influences the sustainable food consumption behaviours of university students? A systematic review. Frontiers in Public Health, 9, Article 1604149. https://doi.org/10.3389/ijph.2021.1604149 Chai, B. C., van der Voort, J. R., Grofelnik, K., Eliasdottir, H. G., Klöss, I., & Perez-Cueto, F. J. A. (2019). Which diet has the least environmental impact on our planet? A systematic review of vegan, vegetarian and omnivorous diets. Sustainability, 11(15), Article 4110. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11154110 Kadiyala, S., & Aurino, E. (2020). Urbanization and food consumption in India. Scientific Reports, 10(1), Article 17241. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-73313-8 Landry, M. J., van den Berg, A. E., Asigbee, F. M., Vandyousefi, S., Ghaddar, R., & Davis, J. N. (2021). Plant-based dietary patterns for human and planetary health. Nutrients, 14(8), Article 1614. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14081614
Publication Date
7/3/2026
Peer Review Type
Double-Blind Peer Review
Review Rounds: 2
Documents
Article Views
0
Total views since publication
PDF Downloads
16
Total downloads since publication
Geographic Reach
5
Digital Preservation: This article is permanently archived on Zenodo and complies with all data preservation standards across major indexing platforms.
Plagiarism Screening
This manuscript has been checked for plagiarism using TurnitinPlagiarismChecker software.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest related to this research work.
Funding Information
No funding information available for this research.
Related research in the same subject area
Loading similar articles...