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
. 2024 Jul 2;16(13):2117.
doi: 10.3390/nu16132117.

Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods in the Brazilian Amazon during COVID-19

Elyecleyde Katiane da Silva Oliveira  1   2 , Tamires Dos Santos Vieira  3 , Orivaldo Florêncio de Souza  4 , Priscilla Rayanne E Silva Noll  5 , Italla Maria Pinheiro Bezerra  6 , Matheus Paiva Emidio Cavalcanti  7 , Luiz Carlos de Abreu  8   9 , Andres Ricardo Perez Riera  10
Affiliations

Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods in the Brazilian Amazon during COVID-19

Elyecleyde Katiane da Silva Oliveira et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Background: A COVID-19 pandemic erupted, causing a global viral pneumonia outbreak, marking the most significant public health crisis of the 21st century. These changes profoundly impacted population health and well-being, leading to shifts in dietary habits. This study aimed to evaluate the consumption of ultra-processed foods in the Brazilian Amazon before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: This is a secondary data analysis study derived from the Surveillance System of Risk and Protective Factors for Chronic Diseases by Telephone Survey (Vigitel, 2019-2021) of the Brazilian Ministry of Health. All statistical analyses were performed using the Stata 17 statistical program in the survey module (svy).

Results: We found an increased frequency in the subgroups of consumption of ultra-processed foods in the capital of the Brazilian Amazon region between the years 2019 and 2021. In the cities of Boa Vista and Macapá, there was a significant increase in the consumption of snacks, salty snacks, cookies, and meat products. Boa Vista and Macapá showed an increase in the percentage difference in the consumption ≥5 of ultra-processed subgroups, being 30.4% (p = 0.014) and 53.7% (p = 0.014), respectively.

Conclusions: The study indicated an increase in the consumption of ultra-processed foods in the Brazilian Amazon region during and after social distancing.

Keywords: COVID-19; food insecurity; pandemics; ultra-processed food.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Geographic location of the Brazilian Amazon.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Ultra-processed foods group from the Vigitel questionnaire.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Prevalence of subgroup ≥5 consumption of ultra-processed foods on the previous day in the capitals of the Brazilian Amazon region in the years 2019, 2020, and 2021.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Dantas G., Siciliano B., França B.B., da Silva C.M., Arbilla G. The impact of COVID-19 partial lockdown on the air quality of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Sci. Total. Environ. 2020;729:139085. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139085. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rodrigues M.B., Matos J.d.P., Horta P.M. The COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Implications for the Food Information Environment in Brazil. Public Health Nutr. 2021;24:321–326. doi: 10.1017/S1368980020004747. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Di Renzo L., Gualtieri P., Pivari F., Soldati L., Attinà A., Cinelli G., Leggeri C., Caparello G., Barrea L., Scerbo F., et al. Eating Habits and Lifestyle Changes during COVID-19 Lockdown: An Italian Survey. J. Transl. Med. 2020;18:229. doi: 10.1186/s12967-020-02399-5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Czenczek-Lewandowska E., Wyszyńska J., Leszczak J., Baran J., Weres A. Comparison of the Level of Physical Activity in Young Adults before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Longitudinal Study. Med. Sci. Forum. 2021;6:3. doi: 10.3390/IECMD2021-10406. - DOI
    1. Ammar A., Brach M., Trabelsi K., Chtourou H., Boukhris O., Masmoudi L., Bouaziz B., Bentlage E., How D., Ahmed M., et al. Effects of COVID-19 Home Confinement on Eating Behaviour and Physical Activity: Results of the ECLB-COVID19 International Online Survey. Nutrients. 2020;12:1583. doi: 10.3390/nu12061583. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources