Abstract: Objective To know the influence of cultural level on the awareness of nutritional and health knowledge among permanent residents in Rugao City,provide theoretical basis for carrying out targeted nutrition and health education. Methods The face-to-face questionnaire survey was used to conduct the cross-sectional survey of nutrition knowledge among 330 permanent residents in Rugao City in April 2021. The residents were divided into low education level group,medium education level group and high education level group according to their educational levels. SPSS 25.0 was used for statistical analysis. Results The residents with high education level had the highest pass level（70.87%） and those with low education level had the highest fail level（51.47%）. The total score of the low education level group[M（P₂₅,P₇₅）] was 59.25（53.13,64.50）points,which was significantly lower than that of the medium education level group[65.00（57.00,68.50）points] and the high education level group[66.00（60.00, 70.50）points]（P<0.01）. The knowledge score was positively correlated with the education level（r=0.302,P<0.01）. There were statistically significant differences in the knowledge scores and correct rates of food and nutrients,food selection,dietary recommendation,nutrition and health,food safety and food saving among residents of low,medium and high education level groups（all P<0.05）,among which the correct rates of food and nutrients in three groups（53.79%,54.88% and 61.11%）. There were statistically significant differences in choices in terms of website search,books/newspapers/periodicals/magazines and publicity lectures among three groups,and Wechat/Weibo/Douyin/Kuaishou and other software provide the most selective way for residents in each group（85.29%,85.07% and 90.55%） to acquire nutrition and health knowledge. Conclusions The overall level of nutrition and health knowledge of permanent residents in Rugao City is low,and the education level directly affects nutrition cognition,with a positive correlation. The groups with different education level have different scores,correct rates of six categories of nutrition knowledge and access methods. It is suggested that the content and the way of nutrition education should be selected according to the different objects.

Key words: Educational level, Rugao, Residents, Nutrition and health knowledge