BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic along with its confinement period boosted lifestyle modifications and impacted women and men differently which exacerbated existing gender inequalities. The main objective of this paper is to assess the gender-based differentials in food consumption patterns, dietary diversity and the determinants favoring weight change before and amid the COVID-19 pandemic among Arab men and women from 10 Arab countries.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted based on a convenience sample of 12,447 households' family members (mean age: 33.2 ± 12.9; 50.1% females) and information from participants aged 18 years and above was collected about periods before and during the pandemic.ResultsFindings showed that, during the COVID-19 period, the dietary diversity, declined by 1.9% among females compared to males (0.4%) (p < 0.001) and by 1.5% among overweight participants (p < 0.001) compared to their counterparts.ConclusionsTo conclude, gender-sensitive strategies and policies to address weight gain and dietary diversity during emergent shocks and pandemics are urgently needed in the region.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the Eastern Mediterranean Region's food system's fragility posing severe challenges to maintaining healthy sustainable lifestyle. The aim of this cross-sectional study (N = 13,527 household's family members, mean age: 30.3 ±11.6, 80% women) is to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food consumption patterns and household's dietary diversity in 10 Eastern Mediterranean countries. A food frequency questionnaire was used to investigate the consumption patterns along with the calculation of the Food Consumption Score (FCS), a proxy indicator of dietary diversity. Data collected on cooking attitudes, shopping and food stock explore the community mitigation measures. In the overall population, before and during the pandemic, most food groups were consumed less or equal to 4 times per week. As evident from our findings and considering that the pandemic may be better, but it's not over, small to moderate changes in food consumption patterns in relatively short time periods can become permanent and lead to substantial poor dietary diversity over time. While it is a priority to mitigate the immediate impact, one area of great concern is the long-term effects of this pandemic on dietary patterns and dietary diversity in Eastern Mediterranean households. To conclude, the COVID-19 crisis revealed the region's unpreparedness to deal with a pandemic. While the aggressive containment strategy was essential for most countries to help prevent the spread, it came at a high nutritional cost, driving poor dietary diversity.

Accumulating evidence suggests that consumption of whole grains and legumes is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), whereas the risk is increased by consuming refined grains and cereals. This study aimed to investigate the association between grain and legume consumption and the risk of CVD. The study was conducted using a convenient sampling method with a total of 399 participants who underwent coronary angiography. Cases and controls were matched by age with a 1:1 ratio. Standardized and validated questionnaires were used to collect sociodemographic, health, lifestyle, and dietary data. Intake of more than 1 serving/d of white bread increased the risk of CVD significantly with an adjusted odds ratio (AOR) of 3.06 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.37∼6.84], while consuming more than 1 serving/d of wholegrain bread reduced the risk significantly to approximately 53% (AOR: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.24 ∼0.93). Similar trends between consuming white bread on daily basis and increased risk of CVD, and consuming wholegrain bread and reduced risk of CVD were also observed. In addition, consuming unsweetened cornflakes on a weekly basis had a protective effect against CVD (AOR: 0.15, 95% CI: 0.03∼0.96). Intake of legumes reduced the risk of CVD, although only insignificantly for all the tested legumes. The present study calls for consideration of consuming wholegrain bread prevent CVD in the Jordanian population.

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<p>This study was carried out to investigate the effect of a dietary preparation of Birhi tamr (<em>Phoenix dactylifera</em> L.) on serum glucose levels and body weight in normal, diabetic insulin-treated and diabetic insulin-untreated rats. Diabetes was partially induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (32.25 mg/kg). Thirty six male Sprague-Dawley rats (239 ± 8.4 g) were divided into two normal, two diabetic insulin-treated and two diabetic insulin-untreated groups. Each group was fed a diet containing either 0% or 10% tamr for six weeks. Fasting serum glucose levels were determined by enzymatic-calorimetric method using a standard kit procedure.Feeding 10% tamr did not show significant differences (P &gt; 0.05) in serum glucose levels in any of the normal and insulin-treated diabetic rats. Insulin-untreated diabetic rats fed 0% tamr or 10% tamr exhibited significantly (P &lt; 0.05) higher serum glucose levels (496 ± 81.6, 315 ± 61.1 mg/dl respectively) compared to normal (147 ± 5.3, 156 ± 7.6 mg/dl respectively) and insulin-treated diabetic rats (227 ± 17.6, 268± 18.9 mg/dl respectively). Feeding 10% tamr to insulin-untreated rats induced significant (P &lt; 0.05) reduction in this variable. The findings of the present study may provide support for the favourable effect of date palm fruits as tamr, on blood glucose in streptozotocin-diabetic rats. This effect cannot be simply explained on the basis of the macro-nutrient composition of tamr. However, due to the apparent effects of tamr on blood glucose in normal and insulin-treated and insulin-untreated diabetic rats, the possible presence of insulin-like substance in tamr may not be excluded. The mechanism of action of the blood glucose-lowering effect of tamr awaits further investigation.</p>