Navigation
Dietary trends among young adults during the COVID-19 lockdown: Socioeconomic and gender disparities
A healthy diet is paramount to wellbeing, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was crucial to strengthen immunity and stave against viral illnesses. However, many reports indicate that maintaining a healthy diet was more of a victim of the epidemic than a strategy for battling it. While little is currently known regarding nutritional consequences, young people faced disproportionate pandemic-related disturbances during a crucial development time. During the COVID-19 shutdown, Parker et al. (2023) used a cross-sectional methodology to investigate dietary inequalities in young adults (ages 18 to 28). A 15-20 minute online survey with questions about attitudes towards healthy eating, food sources and composition, food insecurity, weight change, and physical activity was completed by 254 participants. In addition to comparisons based on gender and family income, the authors investigated the factors that played a role in healthy eating perception, with considerations made for sociodemographic and other influential variables. While there was a definite general tendency towards hazardous behaviors, analysis has also revealed noticeable improvements. For instance, junk food consumption grew dramatically (+ 3%), activity levels dropped by 33%, weight climbed by 40%, and 5-8% of people experienced regular food insecurity. While this happened, fewer people were dining out, and more people were cooking at home. Higher-income participants were disproportionately represented in healthy changes, whereas those with lower incomes were overrepresented in harmful changes. While females reported more weight fluctuations, men reported more considerable changes in food composition. Food insecurity, decreased exercise levels, and weight increase were predictors of poor eating patterns. Living with friends or roommates was associated with better eating, but only among people with lower incomes. The authors recommend that pandemic-minded public health measures should take adverse dietary patterns into consideration, paying close attention to low-income young adults in particular. Instead of focusing primarily on behavioral treatments, solutions should be designed to reshape the economic, social, and physical contexts. [NPID: COVID19, diet, health, inequities, young adults]
Year: 2023
