Food Habits and Lifestyle of Romanians in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Valentin Năstăsescu,Magdalena Mititelu,Gabriela Stanciu,Cristina Elena Dinu-Pîrvu,Tiberius Iustinian Stanciu,Nicoleta Diana Grigore,Manuela Ghica,Denisa Ioana Udeanu,Eliza Oprea,Sorinel Marius Neacșu,Doina Drăgănescu

doi:10.3390/nu14030504

Valentin Năstăsescu, Magdalena Mititelu + Show 9 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14030504

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Abstract

The pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has produced significant changes in socio-cultural life, diet, and interpersonal relationships across the world’s population. The present study aims to identify changes in lifestyle and diet among the Romanian population one year after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. An online questionnaire with 58 items (addressing the following aspects: socio-demographic and anthropometric data, current eating habits, and lifestyle changes) was distributed using institutional mailing lists and social media. A total number of 2040 respondents participated in the study, of whom 1464 were women, and 576 men. Among the respondents, 1598 came from urban areas and 442 from rural areas. The processing of the collected data showed significant changes in the behavior of the respondents caused by the pandemic situation with psycho-affective changes in some cases. The number of people who had anxiety, depression and nervousness increased by up to 20%. The majority of respondents (over 57%) were up to 30 years old, either students (43.50%) or employees going to workplaces (33.20%). Analyzing eating habits, we found that diet modification was needed to increase the daily consumption of fruits, vegetables, fish, and seafood. Regarding weight status during the pandemic, we noticed that 34.7% of normal-weight respondents said that they gained weight while 49.7% of overweight people and 52.5% of obese people said that they gained weight (p < 0.0001). Regarding psycho-emotional behavior, 11.81% of the surveyed women stated that they frequently had depressive states during the pandemic period and 11.63% of the men stated that they frequently presented depressive states during the pandemic (p = 0.005).

Highlights

The crisis generated by the SARS-CoV-2 virus requires solutions with joint efforts from all states to protect population health and reduce the damage to national economies
The objective of the paper is to investigate the changes in lifestyle, eating habits and psycho-affective state among the Romanian population one year after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic
Between 3 May and 6 June 2021, a study was conducted among the Romanian population based on a questionnaire disseminated online using the Google Forms web survey platform to identify changes in lifestyle and diet during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

Introduction

The crisis generated by the SARS-CoV-2 virus requires solutions with joint efforts from all states to protect population health and reduce the damage to national economies. In order to avoid catastrophic outcomes for national health systems and reduce the number of casualties, many countries have initiated social distancing policies to slow the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused all employees worldwide to suddenly experience significant changes, both in the family and in their professional activity, the most affected being low-wage workers without access to social protection [1,2,3]. The tourist ecosystem has been severely affected by traffic and travel restrictions due to the coronavirus crisis [4,5,6]. For many children and parents, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed daily routines

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