Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 May 25;9(5):675.
doi: 10.3390/foods9050675.

Covid-19 and the Subsequent Lockdown Modified Dietary Habits of Almost Half the Population in an Italian Sample

Federico Scarmozzino  1 , Francesco Visioli  1   2
Affiliations

Covid-19 and the Subsequent Lockdown Modified Dietary Habits of Almost Half the Population in an Italian Sample

Federico Scarmozzino et al. Foods. .

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic led to lockdowns in several parts of the world and, hence, changed some daily habits, including social interactions, the ability to perform sports, and-possibly-diet. The Italian government established and promulgated lockdown policies on 9 March 2020. We aim at assessing the effects of Covid-19-induced confinement policies on self-reported food consumption of self-selected Italians by means of a questionnaire that was created and diffused by the Internet. Nearly half, i.e., 49.6% of responders did not substantially modify their diet during the lockdown; however, 46.1% of them reported that they were eating more during confinement, and 19.5% gained weight. In particular, we report an increase in "comfort food" consumption, notably chocolate, ice-cream, and desserts (42.5%) and salty snacks (23.5%). In addition, 42.7% percent of this cohort attributed this increase to higher anxiety levels. Related to this, 36.8% of responders reported a decrease in alcohol consumption, even though 10.1% of them reported an increase. Interestingly, 21.2% of responders increased their consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables. Only 33.5% of those who declared decreased consumption attributed this change of diet to lower availability and ease of purchasing such items. Equally interesting, over half of responders, i.e., 56.2%, admitted that fruit and vegetables did not appeal to them while in lockdown. Purchases of ready-made meals were reduced by nearly 50%. Future large-scale similar studies should be undertaken worldwide and will help public health authorities shape their reactions to future, unavoidable pandemics.

Keywords: Covid-19; diet; dietary habits; food availability; lockdown.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest associated with this study.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Overall reported dietary changes during the lockdown.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Reported changes in comfort food and alcohol consumption during the lockdown.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Reported produce consumption during the lockdown.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Willett W., Rockstrom J., Loken B., Springmann M., Lang T., Vermeulen S., Garnett T., Tilman D., DeClerck F., Wood A., et al. Food in the Anthropocene: The EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. Lancet. 2019;393:447–492. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31788-4. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Diez J., Bilal U., Franco M. Unique features of the Mediterranean food environment: Implications for the prevention of chronic diseases Rh: Mediterranean food environments. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 2019;72:71–75. doi: 10.1038/s41430-018-0311-y. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bilal U., Jones-Smith J., Diez J., Lawrence R.S., Celentano D.D., Franco M. Neighborhood social and economic change and retail food environment change in Madrid (Spain): The heart healthy hoods study. Health Place. 2018;51:107–117. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2018.03.004. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Fernandez-Sanjurjo M., de Gonzalo-Calvo D., Fernandez-Garcia B., Diez-Robles S., Martinez-Canal A., Olmedillas H., Davalos A., Iglesias-Gutierrez E. Circulating microRNA as Emerging Biomarkers of Exercise. Exerc. Sport Sci. Rev. 2018;46:160–171. doi: 10.1249/JES.0000000000000148. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lopez-Perez B., Deeprose C., Hanoch Y. Prospective mental imagery and its link with anxiety and depression in prisoners. PLoS ONE. 2018;13:e0191551. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0191551. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources