Background: Football players require optimal nutrition and physical fitness to enhance their performance and maintain their health. Understanding the relationships among nutritional knowledge, dietary habits, physical health, and substance use in athletes is essential for developing effective strategies. This study investigates these factors in male football players aged 16–33 years. Methods: The study involved 60 male football players from three teams in Liga4Arad. A mixed-methods approach was used, incorporating a self-developed pilot questionnaire and internationally validated instruments. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed using Guttman’s λ2. The questionnaire assessed nutritional knowledge, eating habits, substance use, and physical health parameters, including body fat percentage and training frequency. Spearman’s correlation was used to analyze the data and explore the interrelationships between these factors. It is important to note that the pilot questionnaire used in this study was self-developed and not previously validated in this specific context. Results: Nutritional knowledge was positively correlated with healthier eating habits (ρ = 0.675, p < 0.001). Intensive training and higher physical activity levels were both associated with improved body composition and lower body fat (ρ = 0.341, p = 0.006). Supplement use was moderately correlated with alcohol consumption (ρ = 0.548, p < 0.001) and weakly correlated with smoking (ρ = 0.348, p = 0.007). Conclusions: The study highlights a strong relationship between nutritional knowledge and healthier eating habits among football players, as well as the significant role of frequent intense training in reducing body fat percentages and enhancing physical fitness. Additionally, the findings suggest a moderate association between dietary supplement use and alcohol consumption, underscoring the need for tailored interventions to address substance use and its impact on players’ health behaviors and performance.

Sustainable urban development has come to play an essential role in establishing and growing future sustainable cities, or smart cities, which are urban areas that have an optimum carbon footprint, are nature-friendly, and are smart enough to enhance energy efficiency. This study is based on qualitative research in which data were collected from interviews with real estate development specialists. The interviews were addressed to a total of 30 real estate developers from Romania between July and December 2022 and were conducted using the Zoom interface. The aim of this research was to analyze whether familiarity with the smart green concept influences the decision to implement the IoT on a large scale at the organizational level through the perception of specific determining factors in choosing the development of green building projects considering the operational costs. The results revealed a significant indirect effect of green building knowledge on large-scale IoT implementation through the mediator of the perception of operating cost factors, supporting our hypothesis. The direct effect in the presence of the mediator was not found to be significant anymore. Hence, there is full complementary mediation by the perception of operating cost factors on the relationship between green building knowledge and large-scale IoT implementation.

Background/Objectives: The transition toward healthier and more sustainable diets has increased the need for reformulated bakery and confectionery products formulated with alternative ingredients. However, validated instruments for assessing consumer acceptance of these products remain limited. This study aimed to develop and psychometrically validate a multidimensional assessment framework integrating food choice motives, green (environmental) values, health consciousness, perceived nutritional value, willingness to pay a premium, and purchase intention. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 504 consumers in Romania using an online questionnaire. The instrument was developed by adapting established scales and by developing a new Perceived Nutritional Value scale. Dimensionality was evaluated using exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) factor analyses. Temporal stability was assessed in an independent test–retest subsample (n = 30; 14-day interval), and the proposed conceptual model was evaluated using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with 5000 bootstrap resamples. Robustness was examined through a sensitivity analysis excluding respondents younger than 18 years (N = 441). Results: EFA (KMO = 0.933) and CFA (CFI = 0.965, TLI = 0.959, RMSEA = 0.061, SRMR = 0.033) supported the proposed six-factor structure. All constructs demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s α: 0.898–0.938), convergent validity (AVE: 0.790–0.889), discriminant validity (HTMT < 0.77), and good-to-excellent test–retest reliability (ICC: 0.82–0.91). Perceived nutritional value was positively and significantly associated with both willingness to pay and purchase intention, and willingness to pay partially mediated the association between perceived nutritional value and purchase intention. The structural model explained 46.1% of the variance in purchase intention; all hypothesized relationships were supported, and the findings remained stable in the sensitivity analysis. Conclusions: The proposed framework demonstrated good psychometric performance and provides a theory-informed measurement framework for assessing consumer acceptance of reformulated bakery and confectionery products. It may support future nutrition research, consumer studies, and the evaluation of food reformulation strategies aimed at promoting healthier and more sustainable dietary choices.

Background: The transition to university life is characterized by substantial changes in eating behaviors, sleep–wake organization, and lifestyle patterns. Chrononutrition-related behaviors, including meal timing and caloric distribution across the day, may influence metabolic health independently of dietary quantity, yet prospective evidence in university students remains limited. This study aimed to evaluate BMI trajectories during the first academic year and to identify chrononutrition-related behaviors associated with BMI change and clinically significant weight gain in young adults. Methods: This prospective observational study included 921 university students aged 18–24 years. BMI was assessed at university entry and after one academic year, and BMI change (Diff_BMI) was calculated. Chrononutrition-related variables included meal frequency, identity of the main meal, breakfast habits, and late eating. Multivariable linear and logistic regression models were used to evaluate independent associations between chrononutrition-related behaviors, BMI change, and clinically significant weight gain (Diff_BMI > +1 kg/m²). Results: Mean Diff_BMI was −0.45 ± 1.07 kg/m² (95% CI −0.52 to −0.38; p < 0.001). Overall, 48.2% of participants showed BMI reduction, 38.7% remained weight-stable, and 13.1% experienced BMI increases; clinically significant weight gain occurred in 7.2% of the cohort. In multivariable analysis, having dinner as the main meal (vs. lunch) was independently associated with greater BMI gain (β = +0.22 kg/m²; p = 0.004). Male sex was associated with lower BMI gain and lower odds of clinically significant weight increase. Breakfast skipping showed an inverse association with BMI change, whereas meal frequency and late eating were not independently associated with BMI trajectory after adjustment. Conclusions: The temporal distribution of caloric intake, particularly late eating patterns and shifting the principal meal toward later hours of the day, appears more strongly associated with BMI trajectory during the transition to university life than meal frequency alone. These findings support the relevance of chrononutrition-oriented strategies targeting meal timing and circadian eating behaviors in university students.

Background/Objectives: Convenience-oriented dietary behaviors acquired during the transition to university life may be associated with overweight and obesity status in young adults. This study aimed to characterize the dietary behaviors of Romanian university students and to evaluate their associations with overweight and obesity. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 921 university students aged 18–24 years (60.6% female; 67.8% urban residents). Self-reported dietary variables included fast-food consumption, sweets intake, fruit and vegetable intake, water intake, and replacement of meals with desserts. BMI categories were classified according to WHO criteria. Associations were evaluated using chi-square tests, Cramer’s V, and multivariable logistic regression adjusted for sex, age group, and residence environment. A five-item Dietary Risk Score (DRS; range 0–5) was constructed as an exploratory composite indicator of cumulative dietary behavioral burden. Cluster analysis was additionally performed to identify dietary behavioral phenotypes. Results: A total of 24.1% of participants were classified as overweight/obese, including 19.4% overweight and 4.7% obesity. Frequent replacement of meals with desserts (aOR 7.20; 95% CI 4.26–12.17) and fast-food consumption ≥3 times/week (aOR 1.98; 95% CI 1.26–3.10) were independently associated with overweight/obesity after adjustment for demographic variables. Male sex, older age, and urban residence were also independently associated with overweight/obesity. Distinct dietary behavioral phenotypes were identified, including a convenience-oriented cluster characterized by higher fast-food and sweets intake and the highest prevalence of overweight/obesity. The DRS demonstrated a dose–response relationship with overweight/obesity prevalence, increasing from 19.8% at DRS = 0 to 50.0% at DRS = 4, with an adjusted OR of 1.43 per one-point increase (95% CI 1.23–1.66; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Frequent meal replacement with desserts, higher fast-food consumption, and greater cumulative dietary behavioral burden were associated with overweight and obesity status among Romanian university students. The findings support the relevance of evaluating cumulative dietary behavioral patterns in young adults; however, the cross-sectional design precludes conclusions regarding causality or temporal directionality.

Background/Objectives: Bakery and confectionery products reformulated with alternative ingredients are increasingly present in the retail food environment, but their contribution to healthier diets depends on whether consumers eat them. This study examined how health consciousness and perceived nutritional value relate to the recent consumption of such products among Romanian consumers, whether food neophobia weakens these associations, and whether consumption differs across dietary patterns. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey of 504 consumers (February to April 2026) measured health consciousness, perceived nutritional value, health and natural-content food choice motives, food neophobia and 30-day consumption on five-point scales. Regression-based mediation and moderated mediation with 5000 bootstrap resamples and Kruskal-Wallis tests were adjusted for age group, sex and education. Results: The scales were reliable (alpha 0.77 to 0.94) and the measurement model fitted acceptably (CFI = 0.968; SRMR = 0.039). Health consciousness partially mediated the association between motives and perceived nutritional value (indirect effect 0.14, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.24). Perceived nutritional value fully mediated the association between health consciousness and consumption (indirect effect 0.17, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.23; direct effect 0.04). The neophobic and neophilic items formed two uncorrelated facets: neophobia lowered consumption directly (β= -0.18) without moderating the mediated path (index of moderated mediation 0.04, 95% CI -0.01 to 0.08), whereas openness to new foods raised it (β = 0.21). Consumption did not differ across dietary patterns (p = 0.130) but declined with age. Conclusions: Perceived nutritional value is the channel through which health orientations reach the consumption of reformulated bakery products. Food neophobia is an additive barrier rather than a condition on that channel, so credible nutritional information and familiar product formats are complementary levers for widening uptake.