Nutritional Behaviors, Vitamin Supplementation and Physical Activity among Polish Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Bogna Gryszczyńska,Agnieszka Gryszczyńska,Magdalena Budzyń,Joanna Grupińska,Magdalena Paulina Kasprzak

doi:10.3390/nu14020331

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences, including social isolation, movement restrictions and work instability have altered many people’s nutritional behaviors and daily lifestyle. The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on selected eating habits, physical activity and daily lifestyle changes of Polish adults (n = 145). The self-designed and anonymous questionnaire was available online from the 1 May 2021 to the 15 May 2021. In general, 60% of respondents declared that the COVID-19 pandemic did not affect their dietary habits, whereas 26% of surveyed individuals answered in the affirmative. The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on changing dietary habits was differentiated by age (Pearson’s χ2 = 12.604; p = 0.0134). The number of meals consumed by respondents per day differed across gender groups (Pearson’s χ2 = 9.653; df = 4; p = 0.0466). An increase in body weight during the COVID-19 pandemic was reported by 43% of women and 7.6% of surveyed men. Additionally, hybrid working women declared most often an increase in body mass independent of age, education level and living place. Moreover, the majority of respondents who reported the effect of the pandemic on changing dietary habits also declared more frequent sweets consumption. The study revealed that respondents who stated more frequent sweets consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic were more likely associated with an increase in body mass (OR = 6.75, 95% CI, 6.75–91.25). No increase in the consumption of vitamin D, C and Mg supplements and pickled products was found.

Highlights

At the beginning of 2020, when some vague news about the coronavirus disease induced by SARS-CoV-2 reached Poland, it did not cause much commotion in society [1,2,3]
We found out that the impact of the pandemic on daily lifestyle was associated with body mass increase
We found that individuals with vocational and secondary education levels reported a decrease in body mass least often, whereas hybrid working women declared most often an increase in body mass independent of age, education level and living place

Summary

Introduction

At the beginning of 2020, when some vague news about the coronavirus disease induced by SARS-CoV-2 reached Poland, it did not cause much commotion in society [1,2,3]. The rapid spread of the virus outside the Asian continent and the first case of the disease confirmed in Poland on the 4th of March 2020 changed many Poles’ lives diametrically [4,5]. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the access to fresh food has been restricted, due to grocery shopping hours restrictions and clients limitations. People who had to change their workstyle spent more time at home and quite often limited their physical activity as well [8,9,10]. It could have been the best time for some positive habits, including developing cooking skills, restricting calories intake and starting physical activity at home [10]

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