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      COVID-19 home isolation and food consumption patterns: Investigating the correlates of poor dietary diversity in Lebanon: a cross-sectional study

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          Abstract

          Background: The unfurling COVID-19 pandemic has uncovered the defenselessness of the Lebanese food system leading to serious implication in maintaining a healthy sustainable lifestyle.

          Aim: The main purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food consumption patterns and dietary diversity of the Lebanese people.

          Methods: The online survey, completed between April and June 2020, consisted of a cross-sectional study on 2282 Lebanese participants (mean age: 29.36±12.221, 80.9% women) that was part of a survey across 38 different countries conducted by De Backer, C. et al. A food frequency questionnaire was used to investigate the consumption patterns along with the calculation of the Food Consumption Score (FCS), a proxy indicator of dietary diversity. Data collected on cooking attitudes, shopping, and food stock identify the community mitigation measures.

          Results: Home isolation due to COVID-19 induced an increase in the consumption of legumes and pulses (3.2%, p-value=0.001) and whole wheat groups (2.8%, p-value=0.03). In contrast, a decrease of 5.4%, 6.9%, 5.8%, 5.1%, 3.1%, 3.4% and 2.8% was observed in the consumption of fruits (p-value=0), vegetables (p-value=0), processed meats, poultry, and fish (p-value=0), other dairy products (p-value=0), sweet snacks (p-value=0.001), sugared beverages (p-value=0), fats and oils (p-value=0.001), respectively. The FCS decreased by 4.6%. As food-related behaviors, most cooking attitudes, and practices (10 out of 13) showed an amelioration during the lockdown and the proportions of food stocked have been changing since the start of the pandemic seeing higher amounts of pasta, rice or other grains, flour, and legumes/pulses stocked.

          Conclusion: To conclude, the hostile home isolation strategy followed to prevent the COVID-19 spread in Lebanon, came at a high nutritional cost, driving poor dietary diversity.

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          Most cited references39

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          Eating habits and lifestyle changes during COVID-19 lockdown: an Italian survey

          Background On December 12th 2019, a new coronavirus (SARS-Cov2) emerged in Wuhan, China, sparking a pandemic of acute respiratory syndrome in humans (COVID-19). On the 24th of April 2020, the number of COVID-19 deaths in the world, according to the COVID-Case Tracker by Johns Hopkins University, was 195,313, and the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases was 2,783,512. The COVID-19 pandemic represents a massive impact on human health, causing sudden lifestyle changes, through social distancing and isolation at home, with social and economic consequences. Optimizing public health during this pandemic requires not only knowledge from the medical and biological sciences, but also of all human sciences related to lifestyle, social and behavioural studies, including dietary habits and lifestyle. Methods Our study aimed to investigate the immediate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on eating habits and lifestyle changes among the Italian population aged ≥ 12 years. The study comprised a structured questionnaire packet that inquired demographic information (age, gender, place of residence, current employment); anthropometric data (reported weight and height); dietary habits information (adherence to the Mediterranean diet, daily intake of certain foods, food frequency, and number of meals/day); lifestyle habits information (grocery shopping, habit of smoking, sleep quality and physical activity). The survey was conducted from the 5th to the 24th of April 2020. Results A total of 3533 respondents have been included in the study, aged between 12 and 86 years (76.1% females). The perception of weight gain was observed in 48.6% of the population; 3.3% of smokers decided to quit smoking; a slight increased physical activity has been reported, especially for bodyweight training, in 38.3% of respondents; the population group aged 18–30 years resulted in having a higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet when compared to the younger and the elderly population (p < 0.001; p < 0.001, respectively); 15% of respondents turned to farmers or organic, purchasing fruits and vegetables, especially in the North and Center of Italy, where BMI values were lower. Conclusions In this study, we have provided for the first time data on the Italian population lifestyle, eating habits and adherence to the Mediterranean Diet pattern during the COVID-19 lockdown. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing, our data need to be confirmed and investigated in future more extensive population studies.
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            Covid-19 and the Subsequent Lockdown Modified Dietary Habits of Almost Half the Population in an Italian Sample

            The Covid-19 pandemic led to lockdowns in several parts of the world and, hence, changed some daily habits, including social interactions, the ability to perform sports, and—possibly—diet. The Italian government established and promulgated lockdown policies on 9 March 2020. We aim at assessing the effects of Covid-19-induced confinement policies on self-reported food consumption of self-selected Italians by means of a questionnaire that was created and diffused by the Internet. Nearly half, i.e., 49.6% of responders did not substantially modify their diet during the lockdown; however, 46.1% of them reported that they were eating more during confinement, and 19.5% gained weight. In particular, we report an increase in “comfort food” consumption, notably chocolate, ice-cream, and desserts (42.5%) and salty snacks (23.5%). In addition, 42.7% percent of this cohort attributed this increase to higher anxiety levels. Related to this, 36.8% of responders reported a decrease in alcohol consumption, even though 10.1% of them reported an increase. Interestingly, 21.2% of responders increased their consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables. Only 33.5% of those who declared decreased consumption attributed this change of diet to lower availability and ease of purchasing such items. Equally interesting, over half of responders, i.e., 56.2%, admitted that fruit and vegetables did not appeal to them while in lockdown. Purchases of ready-made meals were reduced by nearly 50%. Future large-scale similar studies should be undertaken worldwide and will help public health authorities shape their reactions to future, unavoidable pandemics.
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              The Early Food Insecurity Impacts of COVID-19

              COVID-19 has disrupted food access and impacted food insecurity, which is associated with numerous adverse individual and public health outcomes. To assess these challenges and understand their impact on food security, we conducted a statewide population-level survey using a convenience sample in Vermont from 29 March to 12 April 2020, during the beginning of a statewide stay-at-home order. We utilized the United States Department of Agriculture six-item validated food security module to measure food insecurity before COVID-19 and since COVID-19. We assessed food insecurity prevalence and reported food access challenges, coping strategies, and perceived helpful interventions among food secure, consistently food insecure (pre-and post-COVID-19), and newly food insecure (post COVID-19) respondents. Among 3219 respondents, there was nearly a one-third increase (32.3%) in household food insecurity since COVID-19 (p < 0.001), with 35.5% of food insecure households classified as newly food insecure. Respondents experiencing a job loss were at higher odds of experiencing food insecurity (OR 3.06; 95% CI, 2.114–0.46). We report multiple physical and economic barriers, as well as concerns related to food access during COVID-19. Respondents experiencing household food insecurity had higher odds of facing access challenges and utilizing coping strategies, including two-thirds of households eating less since COVID-19 (p < 0.001). Significant differences in coping strategies were documented between respondents in newly food insecure vs. consistently insecure households. These findings have important potential impacts on individual health, including mental health and malnutrition, as well as on future healthcare costs. We suggest proactive strategies to address food insecurity during this crisis.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: Data CurationRole: Formal AnalysisRole: MethodologyRole: Writing – Original Draft Preparation
                Role: Data CurationRole: Formal AnalysisRole: MethodologyRole: Writing – Original Draft Preparation
                Role: Formal AnalysisRole: MethodologyRole: Writing – Review & Editing
                Role: Formal AnalysisRole: MethodologyRole: Writing – Original Draft Preparation
                Role: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Writing – Review & Editing
                Journal
                F1000Res
                F1000Res
                F1000Research
                F1000 Research Limited (London, UK )
                2046-1402
                28 January 2022
                2022
                : 11
                : 110
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Faculty of Public Health, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon
                [2 ]PHENOL research group (Public HEalth Nutrition prOgram-Lebanon), Faculty of Public Health, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon
                [3 ]Lebanese University Nutrition Surveillance Center, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon
                [4 ]Faculty of Science IV, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon
                [5 ]World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, World Health Organization, Cairo, Egypt
                [6 ]Department of Nutrition and food sciences, faculty of arts and sciences, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Jounieh, Lebanon
                [1 ]Department of Nutrition and Food Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
                [1 ]Department of Nutrition and Food Technology, Faculty of Al-Huson University College, Al-Balqa Applied University, As-Salt, Jordan
                Author notes

                No competing interests were disclosed.

                Competing interests: No competing interests were disclosed.

                Competing interests: No competing interests were disclosed.

                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7392-4835
                https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7387-8277
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7831-0661
                Article
                10.12688/f1000research.75761.1
                8864186
                35251599
                c32f8e04-62f5-41cf-b805-a120d0119ceb
                Copyright: © 2022 Hoteit M et al.

                This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                : 13 January 2022
                Funding
                The author(s) declared that no grants were involved in supporting this work.
                Categories
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                covid-19,lockdown,lebanon,food consumption pattern,food security,food consumption score,mitigation measures

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