Abstract
BackgroundChanges in dietary behaviors that occurred at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak and in particular during the first national lockdowns have been extensively studied across countries. Beyond the understanding of contextual changes in diets due to a temporary lockdown, it is of interest to study longer-term consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak as sustained changes in diets may have both an impact on population health and the environment.ObjectivesThis study aimed to examine both short- (after 1 month) and mid-term (after 1 year) impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on the nutritional quality and environmental impact of diets, and as a secondary objective on food choice motives.MethodsWe collected dietary data [food frequency questionnaire (FFQ)] and the importance of nine food choice motives through online questionnaires before, during, and after 1 year of the first lockdown for 524 French participants. Adherence to the French dietary recommendations was estimated using the simplified PNNS-GS2, which scores from −17 to 11.5. Environmental impact of diets was assessed by calculating greenhouse gas emissions in CO2eq/2,000 kcal.ResultsWe showed a short-term decrease in nutritional quality (−0.26 points on sPNNS-GS2, p = 0.017) and environmental impact (−0.17 kg CO2eq/2,000 kcal, p = 0.004) but this decrease was only temporary, and nutritional quality (−0.01 points on sPNNS-GS2, p = 0.974) and environmental impact (−0.04 kg CO2eq/2,000 kcal, p = 0.472) were not different from their initial values 1 year later. Some of the food choice motives followed the trend of a short-term increase and a mid-term stability (health, natural content, ethical concern, and weight control). On the contrary, we showed both short- and mid-term decreases in convenience, familiarity, and price motives.ConclusionChanges in diets and motives observed during the first lockdown were mostly temporary. However, we highlighted a sustained decrease in the importance of perceived constraints due to food shopping and food preparation which may suggest a trend toward a more positive perception of food-related activities.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions that have been imposed by the governments to avoid transmission of the virus led to changes in dietary habits [1]
In cross-sectional studies, higher motives related to health, natural content, and ethical concern have been associated with higher nutritional quality of diet [16–18] and with higher consumption of organic food products [19] whereas higher motives related to price, familiarity, and convenience have been associated with lower nutritional quality of diet [16, 18] and lower consumption of organic food products [19]
The participants in the 2021 study were slightly older than the participants in the 2020 study who did not complete the 2021 survey (Supplementary Table S2) but did not differ regarding gender, employment status, highest educational qualification, initial body mass index (BMI), and dietary outcomes before the first lockdown
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions that have been imposed by the governments to avoid transmission of the virus (e.g., nationwide lockdowns) led to changes in dietary habits [1]. Few studies recorded detailed food consumption and compared the nutritional quality of the overall diet before and during the COVID-19 outbreak and they led to mixed results: an increase in the nutritional quality in Quebec [6], a decrease in Spain [7] and Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Nigeria [8], no change in France but with a large interindividual variability in dietary changes [9] These results suggest that eating habits may have changed in both favorable and unfavorable directions in association with context and individual characteristics. We showed a decrease in the nutritional quality of diet for individuals who comforted themselves with food during the lockdown (48%) but an increase in the nutritional quality for individuals who tried to better control their weight during the lockdown (29%) In this same previous study, we observed an increase in ethical concern (21% of the participants) and natural content (19%) as food choice motives during the lockdown, which suggests a growing awareness of the importance of the environmental impact of food choices [10]. Beyond the understanding of contextual changes in diets due to a temporary lockdown, it is of interest to study longer-term consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak as sustained changes in diets may have both an impact on population health and the environment
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