Abstract
Ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption poses a potential risk to public health and may be related to shelter-in-place orders. This study utilized the level of food processing as a lens by which to examine the relationships between diet, weight change, and lifestyle changes (including cooking, snacking, and sedentary activity) that occurred during regional shelter-in-place orders. This study used a cross-sectional, retrospective survey (n = 589) to assess baseline demographics, changes in lifestyle behaviors using a Likert scale, and changes in dietary behaviors using a modified food frequency questionnaire from mid-March to May 2020; data were collected in the California Bay Area from August to October 2020. Foods were categorized by level of processing (minimally processed, processed, and ultra-processed) using the NOVA scale. Stepwise multiple linear regression and univariate linear regression models were used to determine the associations between these factors. Increased snacking was positively associated with a change in the percent of the calories derived from UPF and weight gain (β = 1.0, p < 0.001; β = 0.8 kg, p < 0.001) and negatively associated with the share of MPF calories consumed (β = −0.9, p < 0.001). These relationships have public health implications as interventions designed around decreased snacking may positively impact diet and weight management and thereby mitigate negative health outcomes.
Highlights
The recent pandemic caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses a substantial risk to public health
These exist in contrast to minimally processed foods (MPF), which require little modification to become edible, and are distinct from processed foods (PF) that use various types of preservation or cooking methods to enhance taste and durability [9]
Evidence demonstrates that high ultra-processed foods (UPF) intake is associated with an increased risk of weight gain [12,13], type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) [14], cardiovascular disease [15], all types of cancer [16], and all-cause mortality [17,18,19]
Summary
The recent pandemic caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses a substantial risk to public health. One type of adverse change would be an increased consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF). Researchers have investigated the effects of COVID-19 public health measures on diet, lifestyle behaviors [20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28], and weight change [20,21,24,25,26,27,28,29]. Much of the research in this area has been conducted outside the U.S, with a smaller number of studies analyzing the effects of stay-at-home orders on dietary and lifestyle behaviors in the U.S general population [20,23,28,31,32]. Recognizing the potential detrimental nature of UPF to public health, we aimed to examine the relationships between lifestyle behaviors and UPF consumption to help inform public health strategies and prompt future research into the relationship between lifestyle behaviors and UPF consumption
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