An important step in promoting sustainable purchase behaviour is to explore the understanding of responsible consumerism from the consumers’ point of view. For this purpose, a study among 1040 German consumers was carried out using a two‐pronged approach. First, open‐ended questions were used to explore the characteristics of sustainable food consumption in general as well as the willingness and meaningfulness of a low‐meat diet from the consumers’ point of view. After that the interactive structure behind the term was studied using a quantitative empirical method. As standard of evaluation the four underlying socio‐demographic factors gender, age, wealth and education are used. Apart from the consumers’ financial situation, the applied statistics show significant correlations of the propensity for sustainable consumerism to each of the above factors. Women, middle‐aged and well‐educated consumers show a greater tendency to purchase environmentally and socially sustainable products. Accordingly, the suitability of socio‐demographic factors is confirmed in this study. The open‐ended questions fathom what attributes consumers connect with sustainable food consumption, in particularly with regard to the consumption of meat. It is clear that attributes that affect consumers directly and attributes which can be directly influenced by their actions are better perceived by the consumer. Altruistic factors or abstract aspects of food consumption (e.g. climate protection) are generally of less significance. Conversely, factors which concern the value added chain, like for example, origin and processing, have priority. To conclude, the findings enable the identification of the variables determining the sustainability construct. This allows policy makers to develop customized incentive systems. Similarly, private sector stakeholders are enabled to adapt marketing activities and their product mix to consumer demands.

Nutrient density is a very informative criterion for the evaluation of a diet from the viewpoint of nutritional physiology. One means by nutrient density the physiologically necessary nutrient proportion in an energetic unit (e. g., 4200 kJ = 1000 kcal). The lower the energy requirement, the higher is in general the nutrient density for different nutrients. Dietetic regimens make special demands on nutrient density. As compared to the normal diet for adults, the nutrient density of a dietetic regimen is in part considerably higher, e. g., for protein, calcium, iron, vitamin B1 and vitamin C. The specific demands on energy and nutrient requirements must be met by a food selection and diet composition keyed to nutrient density.