Changes in Student's Breakfast and Snack Consumption during the Second COVID-19 Lockdown in Portugal: A Five-Wave Study

Abstract

The circumstances of the COVID-19 lockdown affected many students' life spheres, including their feeding patterns and snack intake. The main goals of the present study were to: (a) analyze the changes in students' breakfast and snacking consumption during lockdown, and (b) analyze changes in the content of the students' snacks using the Healthy Eating Index. This study analyzed data from a sample of 726 students from 36 classes from the late elementary (i.e., fifth grade) through high school (i.e., twelfth grade) from two public schools in the north of Portugal. Data were collected in five moments during the 2020/2021 school year, pre-, during, and post-second lockdown moments. Throughout the five moments, almost 90% of the students ate breakfast, and the majority brought snacks from home to eat in school. Surprisingly, there was an increase in the quality of the snacks consumed during lockdown compared to the pre-lockdown moments (e.g., consumption of more whole and total fruits and less consumption of food with added sugar, saturated fats, refined grains, and fatty acids). Suggestions for healthy behavior promotion will be discussed, such as improving the school food environment and teaching children to prepare healthy lunch boxes.

Keywords: COVID-19; breakfast; children; feeding patterns; healthy behavior promotion; healthy eating index; lockdown; snacking; students.

Figure 1

Flowchart of the participants’ inclusion/exclusion process for each study goal: breakfast consumption, snacking, and bring analysis (i.e., where the snack was acquired) for the first goal; qualitative analysis for the second goal (black boxes refer to the participants included in the study, and the grey ones refer to participants excluded from the study).

Figure 2

Example of a part of an observational grid.

Figure 3

Data collection timeline: time frame for each data collection (T1–T5), classification into pre-, during, and post-second lockdown, and instruments collected in each moment.

Figure 4

Graphic for the HEI components consumed among moments. Each angle of the graphic represents a distinct component (i.e., TF—Total Fruits, WF—Whole Fruits, WG—Whole Grains, D—Dairy, TPF—Total Protein Foods, SPP—Seafood and Plant Protein, FA—Fatty Acids, RG—Refined Grains, S—Sodium, AS—Added Sugars, SF—Saturated Fats), and a distinct line represents each moment. Unity of measures = portions.