This study was conducted to determine the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Sustainable and Healthy Eating (SHE) Behaviors Scale. The original scale included eight factors and thirty-four items related to the SHE behaviors of adults. The research was carried out in three stages with a total of 586 participants aged 19 to 50 years. The Cronbach alpha coefficient was used to evaluate internal consistency reliability and the test–retest method was applied. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to determine the factor structure. The model obtained with EFA was evaluated with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The Cronbachαcoefficient of the scale was found to be excellent at 0·912, and the intra-class correlation coefficient was found to be good at 0·832 using the test–retest method. Considering the suitability of the data for factor analysis, the Kaiser–Meier–Olkin coefficient was 0·859, and the significance level of the Bartlett test of sphericity was less than 0·05 (χ2=3·803,25; P < 0·05). As a result of EFA, the items of the scale were found to be distributed in seven factor dimensions. The factor loadings of the items were between 0·516 and 0·890, and the factors explained 67 % of the variance. Considering the fit indices obtained as a result of the analysis of this model with CFA, it was seen that the model had an acceptable fit (χ2/sd = 2·593, comparative fit index = 0·915, Tucker–Lewis index=0·902, standardised root mean square error = 0·0754 and root mean square error of approximation = 0·067). In conclusion, the Turkish version of the SHE Behaviors Scale has credible reliability and construct validity to assess the sustainable and healthy eating behaviours of the Turkish adult population.

‘Wholesome Nutrition’ is a concept of sustainable nutrition that was developed at the University of Giessen in the 1980s. In this concept, health and the ecologic, economic, social and cultural dimensions of nutrition are equally important. In 1992 at the UN-Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro the definition of ‘Sustainable Development’ comprised the dimensions environment, economy and society. Additionally to these three ‘classical’ dimensions of sustainability, we included ‘health’ as the fourth dimension because nutrition has far reaching effects on human health. The fifth dimension, ‘culture’, became part of the sustainability dialogue since many years; the respective cultural background influences food habits. Presently, mankind has to cope with huge global challenges such as poverty and food insecurity in low-income countries as well as climate change. Therefore the objective is to identify prospects for actions to respond to these global challenges. The concept of ‘Sustainable Nutrition’ analyses the food supply chain at all stages from input-production and primary production to processing, distribution, preparation, consumption and waste disposal. The present analysis leads to the following seven principles: preference of plant-based foods, organic foods, regional and seasonal products, preference of minimally processed foods, Fair Trade products, resource-saving housekeeping and enjoyable eating culture. This concept is based on holistic thinking and has the potential to reduce the global challenges in the field of nutrition. Scientists, stakeholders, multipliers and consumers are asked to consider environmental, economic, social and cultural aspects in addition to the biological (health) aspects.