Abstract
Background: Severe obesity (body mass index ≥ 40 kg/m2) and non-communicable diseases, both influenced by diet, have been associated with COVID-19. Genotype-based personalised nutrition advice may improve nutrition knowledge and enhance behaviour change towards better diet quality compared with conventional recommendations. Aim: To investigate the nutrition knowledge, food choices and diet quality in genotyped and non-genotyped individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: One hundred and twenty-three healthy UK adults were recruited using convenience sampling through social networks. The online questionnaire consisted of the General Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire, the Food Choices Questionnaire, and the EPIC-Norfolk Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). FFQ was used to calculate participant diet quality with the Diet Quality Index-International and socio-demographic and anthropometric data. Results: Median general nutrition knowledge, diet variety and diet balance scores were higher in genotyped compared with non-genotyped individuals (71.0 ± 11.0 vs. 61.0 ± 15.0, p = <.001, 18.00 ± 5.00 vs. 15.00 ± 5.00, p = .007 and 2.00 ± 4.00 vs. 0.00 ± 2.00, p = .025, respectively). Pooled sample multiple regression showed that health motive positively influenced while familiarity motive negatively influenced diet quality index scores (β = .428, t = 4.822, p = <.001 and β =-.356, t =-4.021, p = .001, respectively). Conclusions: Nutrition knowledge and diet quality indices of balance and variety were higher among genotyped compared with non-genotyped individuals; overall diet quality was similar between groups. This may be due to pandemic-specific factors, such as altered motives of food choice and availability.
Highlights
In December 2019, the first cases of COVID-19, an acute respiratory syndrome caused by the novel coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were reported in Wuhan, China (Zabetakis et al, 2020)
Since the early stages of the pandemic, severe obesity (body mass index (BMI) 40 kg/m2), hypertension, cardiovascular disease and diabetes have been associated with increased susceptibility to COVID-19 infection, symptom severity and increased mortality (Palaiodimos et al, 2020; Zhou et al 2020)
With immune capacity being the common denominator, chronic inflammation is implicated in the onset and progression of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), while systemic inflammation may, in turn, aggravate COVID-19 symptoms (Zabetakis et al, 2020)
Summary
In December 2019, the first cases of COVID-19, an acute respiratory syndrome caused by the novel coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were reported in Wuhan, China (Zabetakis et al, 2020). Aim: To investigate the nutrition knowledge, food choices and diet quality in genotyped and non-genotyped individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Median general nutrition knowledge, diet variety and diet balance scores were higher in genotyped compared with non-genotyped individuals (71.0 + 11.0 vs 61.0 + 15.0, p 1⁄4
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