Abstract
Changes in dietary habits of the French population have been reported during the national lockdown that was enforced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigated whether perceived social eating norms were associated with the initiation and maintenance of dietary changes that took place as a result of lockdown. An online study collected information on (1) changes in consumption implemented during the lockdown and the maintenance of these changes, and (2) perceptions about changes in consumption implemented during lockdown by household members, relatives out of home, and the general population. The changes in consumption were classified as foods to increase or to decrease according to French national recommendations. The perception of changes to dietary habits by household members and relatives out of home was related to the changes made by individuals for each of the food categories (all p < 0.05) but not to the perception of changes made the general population. Increased consumption of foods to increase was more likely to be maintained when there was a positive perception of the changes made by household members (p = 0.03). These results highlight the influence of the perception of social eating norms, especially by household members and relatives, on the implementation of dietary changes during lockdown and suggest that social eating norms can have a lasting influence.
Highlights
Accepted: 3 November 2021To reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, France enforced a national lockdown between 17 March and 10 May 2020
Our aim was to investigate whether perceived social eating norms are associated with both the initiation and the maintenance of dietary changes related to lockdown
We found a significant relationship between the perceptions of changes made during lockdown by household members and relatives out of home, but not by the general population, as well as the dietary changes initiated by the participants, for all food categories assessed
Summary
Accepted: 3 November 2021To reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, France enforced a national lockdown between 17 March and 10 May 2020. It has been reported that the dietary habits of the French population changed during this period. Regarding increases in nutritional quality, it seems that the pandemic may have enhanced awareness about the importance of dietary habits for health and environment and may have acted as a trigger for change for individuals who were already thinking of modifying their diet for health, environmental, or even ethical reasons [16]. Whether these changes to dietary habits are maintained or not could have long-term health effects
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