The effect of education provided to university students on sustainable nutrition: a comparison of ChatGPT and individual nutrition education

Abstract

This study aims to compare the effectiveness of face-to-face, individually delivered sustainable nutrition education for university students with that of a ChatGPT-generated educational brochure. The Sustainable Eating Behavior Scale, the Sustainable Food Literacy Scale, and the Sustainable Food Choice Questionnaire were used. Face-to-face group education was provided, and the ChatGPT-generated data was distributed to students in the brochure group without modification. In generalized linear mixed model analyses, while the main effect of time was strong for all scales ( p < 0.001), statistically significant results were obtained for the time × education type interaction in the Behaviors Scale Towards Sustainable Nutrition (β = −27.47, p < 0.001), the Sustainable Food Literacy Scale (β = −38.54, p < 0.001), and the Sustainable Food Choice Scale (β = −26.41, p < 0.001). Face-to-face education yielded greater improvements across all scales compared to a ChatGPT-generated educational brochure. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first in the literature to compare the effects of face-to-face and ChatGPT-generated educational brochure on sustainable nutrition. Although both types of education were effective, face-to-face nutrition education had a stronger effect than the ChatGPT-generated educational brochure. AI-powered tools may complement sustainable nutrition education; however, face-to-face education demonstrated stronger effects on the measured outcomes in the present study.