Functional Nutrition Literacy and Healthy and Sustainable Eating Efforts Across Diverse Populations

Understanding how nutrition literacy influences individuals' efforts to adopt healthier and more sustainable dietary patterns is essential for informing effective public health strategies. Mexico and the United States have recently implemented several nutrition policies to promote healthier food choices within distinct social and food environments. We aimed to examine the association between functional nutrition literacy and healthy and sustainable eating efforts among Mexican Americans, non-Latino Whites in the US, and Mexicans.

Online surveys were conducted among adults in Mexico (n = 5779) and the US (Mexican Americans = 3343; non-Latino Whites = 3674) as part of the International Food Policy Study 2021. Nutrition literacy was assessed using six questions based on country-specific nutrition facts labels. Efforts to modify diet across food categories were used to construct indicators of healthy and sustainable eating aligned with international guidance. Logistic regression models estimated associations between functional nutrition literacy and dietary efforts, stratified by population group.

Healthy and sustainable eating efforts were similar between Mexican Americans and Mexicans (≈50%-80%), but lower for non-Latino Whites (≈37%-65%), despite lower literacy levels in the former groups. Higher nutrition literacy was associated with greater likelihood of engaging in most dietary efforts across all populations, including increasing fruit, vegetable, and whole grain intake, and reducing consumption of processed foods, sugary drinks, and nutrients of concern (AORs = 1.07-2.73). Some associations were stronger among Mexican Americans and Mexicans (p < 0.008).

Functional nutrition literacy is positively associated with healthy and sustainable eating efforts, supporting its role as a target for public health strategies alongside population-level interventions.