Objective  To examine the status quo and influencing factors of nutrition and health knowledge among permanent residents aged 18 – 64 years in Hunan province in 2021.

  Methods  The participants of the study were 4 351 permanent residents aged 18 – 64 years in 13 districts/counties of Hunan province. An on-site survey was conducted among the participants using a questionnaire designed for a national surveillance on nutrition and health knowledge in Chinese residents aged 18 – 64 years during April – May 2021. A participant′s awareness on nutrition and health knowledge was assessed according to the total scaled score ( ≥ 75 out of the full score of 100) for the questionnaire′s 20 items on dietary guidelines, food characteristics, nutrition and diseases, food choices, and food safety. Data analysis was performed with SPSS 22.0.

  Results  The mean score of nutrition and health knowledge questionnaire was 62.2 ± 12.4 for the 4 010 participants with eligible responses and 15.0% of the participants were assessed as having the awareness on nutrition and health knowledge. Of the participants, 77.4% reported obtaining nutrition and health knowledge through using mobile applications such as Wechat/MicroBlog/Tiktok/Kuaishou, followed by 53.5% and 43.4% reported obtaining the knowledge from television/radio programs and the communication with family members/relatives/friends. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that the participants with following characteristics were more likely to have the awareness on nutrition and health knowledge: being female ( versus male: OR = 1.319, 95%CI: 1.097 – 1.585), living in urban regions (versus living in rural regions: OR = 1.266, 95%CI: 1.044 – 1.536), with the education higher than primary school and below (junior middle school: OR = 2.257, 95%CI: 1.433 – 3.553; senior high school/technical secondary school/technical school education: OR = 3.916, 95%CI: 2.452 – 6.255; junior college/vocational college: OR = 7.859, 95%CI: 4.813 – 12.830; bachelor degree: OR = 11.943, 95%CI = 7.105 – 20.075; master degree or above: OR = 12.813, 95%CI: 3.929 – 41.788), and working in medical institutions (versus in other work units: OR = 1.849, 95%CI: 1.397 – 2.447) .

  Conclusion  The awareness rate of nutrition and health knowledge needs to be improved and the awareness is mainly influenced by gender, place of residence, education level and work unit among 18 – 64 years old residents in Hunan province.