Health-conscious Europeans face barriers to changing their diet

• 51% of Europeans want to eat healthier, but say lack of affordability and difficulties in breaking old habits is blocking them from making lifestyle changes
• Interest in sustainable living continues to decline across Europe, falling from 76% in 2021 to 69% in 2025
• The intention-behaviour gap remains, with only 48% of people actually eating a sustainable diet
• Europeans are choosing to prioritise health and cost before sustainability when making decisions about food

EIT Food has today released ‘Europe wants to eat better, so why isn’t it happening?’, the first issue of its latest Trust Report series, developed by the Consumer Observatory. EIT Food is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, and the study was conducted by a consortium of pan-European academic partners.

The report provides one of the most comprehensive pictures to date of how Europeans eat, what food habits they want to change, and why progress to healthier, more sustainable diets remains slow. 

The report, which is based on responses from 19,954 consumers across 18 European countries, shows that interest in sustainable eating is steadily declining, falling from 76% in 2021 to 69% in 2025. Today, sustainability ranks behind both health and affordability as a factor influencing food choices. 

In practice, fewer than half of Europeans (48%) believe they eat a sustainable diet, and engagement in high-impact sustainable behaviours – such as reducing animal-based products – has fallen. However, generational differences suggest potential for future change. Younger consumers are more open to sustainable food innovation and regenerative agriculture, and are more likely to purchase organic or ethically sourced products. While sustainability may be weakening overall, younger Europeans appear more aligned with long-term environmental values, though they face the most barriers to enacting lasting change.

Health is the dominant driver of dietary change

Across Europe, health remains the dominant driver of dietary change, as more than half of consumers (51%) say they want to eat more healthily, surpassing concerns over affordability or sustainability. 

Yet, despite this prioritisation, improvements in diet quality remain limited. Europeans recognise the negative health effects of salty, fatty, sugary or processed foods yet only approximately a third of consumers avoid them. Many Europeans also continue to under-consume key healthy foods such as fruit, vegetables and fibre, suggesting that intention alone is insufficient to transform eating habits. 

The intention-behaviour gap persists

The research highlights a continued gap between what consumers aspire to do and what they are able to implement in practice. Although many Europeans express a desire to eat more healthily and sustainably – with 51% wanting to eat more healthily and 69% wanting to live sustainably – only a third avoid typically unhealthy foods, and only 48% believe they eat sustainably. 

The study cites affordability and entrenched habits as the two most significant barriers preventing change and contributing to the intention-behaviour gap. Consumers report difficulty affording healthier options and breaking established routines, even where motivation exists. These challenges are particularly acute among younger consumers, who, despite higher dissatisfaction, feel they have minimal control over changing their diets. 

The data suggests that dietary change in Europe is constrained less by awareness and more by structural and financial pressures. Without addressing these barriers, aspirations are unlikely to translate into sustained behavioural shifts. 

Commenting on the findings, Klaus G. Grunert, Professor of Marketing at Aarhus University and Lead of the EIT Food Consumer Observatory, said:

“This research shows that Europeans largely understand what healthier and more sustainable eating looks like, but intention alone is not enough. Health is the strongest driver of food choices, yet affordability pressures and entrenched habits continue to shape what people actually eat.

If we want to see meaningful dietary change, particularly with the adoption of sustainable foods which are declining in importance as financial pressures mount, the major food choice drivers of taste and affordability need to be better connected to healthy and sustainable options. Solutions must fit with people’s real-world constraints, not just their aspirations.”

What this means for industry and policymakers

The report indicates that accelerating dietary change in Europe will require a more diversified and pragmatic approach from industry and policymakers.

Barriers to change have intensified in 2025 and, with consumers increasingly reporting difficulty breaking established routines and affording healthier and more sustainable products, a diversified approach combining education, affordability measures and habit-breaking interventions will be essential.

For industry and policymakers, this includes:

• Designing accessible and convenient healthy products
• Encouraging policymakers to support affordability through fiscal and structural measures
• Connecting sustainability to personal health benefits to drive uptake
• Anticipating that consumers, particularly younger generations, struggle to translate intention into sustained behaviour.

Without addressing affordability and routine constraints, consumer motivation alone is unlikely to deliver large-scale dietary transformation.

The Trust Report 2026 findings will be released in four thematic, focused chapters. The first issue - ‘Europe wants to eat better, so why isn’t it happening?’ -  focuses on current diets, generational differences and the structural barriers shaping food choices across Europe. 

The subsequent segments will deep dive into the state of trust in Europe’s food system, explore responses to current innovation trends and analyse who consumers tend to believe when it comes to informing their food choices.