Hábitos alimentares, estilo de vida e comportamento alimentar durante a pandemia de COVID-19 em indivíduos brasileiros.

Abstract

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the new coronavirus a pandemic. Due to the rapid spread of the virus and, until the consolidation of treatment and immunization methods, social isolation and distancing were indicated as the main measure to combat COVID-19, which substantially affected people's way of living. Therefore, the objective of this work was to verify changes in the daily habits, lifestyle, eating habits and eating behavior of Brazilian adults in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an observational study with individuals aged 18 or over, carried out online using a semi-structured questionnaire prepared using the Google Forms research management application. Statistical analysis was performed using the statistical software R (RCore Team) and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) version 21.0 and consisted of applying tests to compare variables between the times investigated, in addition of regression models. The first phase of the study took place from August to September 2020, during the first wave. At this point, the volunteers were instructed to respond about their habits in the period before the pandemic (T0 - data referring to the period before the pandemic) and at the time they were experiencing during the pandemic (T1). The second phase of the study (T2) took place from May to June 2021, during the second wave. The variables collected were divided into three groups of questions: socioeconomic variables; daily habits and lifestyle; eating habits, eating behavior (eating disorder, emotional eating and cognitive restriction) and perceived stress. In the first wave, 1,368 responses to the questionnaire were obtained and the participants had a median age of 31 (24 – 39) years, with 80.0% of the sample being women. In the second wave, the final sample consisted of 464 individuals, with a median age of 32 (24 - 40) years, with women accounting for 82.8% of the participants. The results revealed that in the first wave, changes were seen in daily habits, eating habits and lifestyle (when compared to the period before the pandemic). There was an increase of 3.5 hours/day in the use of screens and devices, an increase in the number of smokers who smoked more than 11 cigarettes a day and in the weekly frequency of alcohol consumption (with a reduction in the number of people who did not drink). On the other hand, there was a reduction in the amount of alcoholic beverages consumed per occasion. A reduction in daytime meals and an increase in nighttime meals was observed. The frequency of consumption (times per week) of instant meals and fast food increased, while the consumption of fruits and vegetables decreased. The practice of physical exercise was significantly reduced (from 120 to 80 min/week) and a sedentary lifestyle was present in 76.7% of the sample. The factors independently associated with a sedentary lifestyle were: being overweight; greater difference between reported current weight and pre-pandemic weight; be female; lower consumption of homemade meals; greater frequency of alcohol consumption; greater frequency of consumption of bakery products, processed foods and sweets during the pandemic; and higher perceived stress scores. Comfort Food consumption was 54.0% among volunteers, with “sweets” being the most frequently mentioned category for both sexes. When carrying out the longitudinal analysis, it was possible to notice that the practice of physical exercise increased, returning to the baseline (120 min/week) in the second wave. The amount of alcohol consumed per occasion increased from T1 to T2. There was a reduction in the consumption of instant meals, fast food and sweets from the first to the second wave. The consumption of legumes, milk and dairy products, bakery products and meat was higher in T2. It was not possible to observe a statistically significant difference for the eating behavior variables between the first and second wave. As for perceived stress, it was possible to observe that the highest scores occurred in the second wave. For lack of eating control, the factors related to the highest scores were: snacking habit, presence of Comfort Food and Craving, weight and alcohol consumption. The highest emotional eating scores were associated with the presence of Comfort Food, weight and the habit of snacking. For cognitive restriction, the highest scores were related to weight and time spent practicing physical exercise. The factors related to the highest perceived stress scores were weight and sleep quality. When discussing changes regarding eating habits during the pandemic, the individual context must be taken into account in addition to the collective vision. It is understood that studies that evaluate choices during this period are important to outline a starting point in understanding reality and what can be expected in the years that follow after the most serious context of the pandemic. However, in conjunction with these studies and outcomes, issues that are extrinsic to fully conscious decisions (such as eating behavior) and the context (environmental, political and social) must be considered.