Covid-19 Pandemic's Impact on Eating Habits in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 virus has been reported as a pandemic in March 2020 by the WHO. Having a balanced and healthy diet routine can help boost the immune system, which is essential in fighting viruses. Public Health officials enforced lockdown for residents resulting in dietary habits change to combat sudden changes. Design and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted through an online survey to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the eating habits, quality and quantity of food intake among adults in Saudi Arabia. SPSS version 24 was used to analyze the data. Comparison between general dietary habits before and during COVID-19 for ordinal variables was performed by Wilcoxon Signed Rank test, while McNemar test was performed for nominal variables. The paired samples t-test was used to compare the total scores for food quality and quantity before and during COVID-19 periods.Results: 2706 adults residing in Riyadh completed the survey. The majority (85.6%) of the respondents reported eating home-cooked meals on a daily basis during COVID-19 as compared to 35.6% before (p<0.001). The mean score for the quality of food intake was slightly higher (p=0.002) before the COVID-19 period (16.46±2.84) as compared to the during period (16.39±2.79). The quantity of food mean score was higher (p<0.001) during the COVID-19 period (15.70±2.66) as compared to the before period (14.62±2.71).Conclusion: Dietary habits have changed significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic among Riyadh residents. Although some good habits increased, the quality and the quantity of the food was compromised. Public Health officials must focus on increased awareness on healthy eating during pandemics to avoid negative consequences. Future research is recommended to better understand the change in dietary habits during pandemics using a detailed food frequency questionnaire.

Lifestyle changes associated with COVID-19 quarantine among young Saudi women: A prospective study

“…Our results also show that around 50% of the sample reported usually or often eating sugary food more during than before COVID-19. This is compatible with findings in other studies showing that self-quarantine adversely affected dietary intake and habits [ 39 , 40 ], increased emotional eating [ 42 ], and altered normal lifestyle behaviors [ 7 ]. This may be caused by the negative impacts of quarantine reducing the motivation to maintain healthy habits [ 43 ].…”

“…The weight loss reported in the present study could have been partially influenced by reduced reported fast food intake. The lockdown in Saudi Arabia and other gulf countries like Kuwait forced restaurants, malls, and delivery applications to limit their hours, decreasing fast food and restaurant meals while increasing regular home-cooked meals [ 39 , 40 ]. Approximately 57% of the women in the weight-loss group decreased their total food intake and daily snacks.…”

The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on snacking habits, fast-food and alcohol consumption: A systematic review of the evidence

“…A total of 1489 studies were identified through databases and reference searching and after removal of 642 duplicates, 847 studies were screened. Hence, 32 studies [ [15] , [16] , [17] , [18] , [19] , [20] , [21] , [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] , [27] , [28] , [29] , [30] , [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] , [36] , [37] , [38] , [39] , [40] , [41] , [42] , [43] , [44] , [45] , [46] ] (all cross-sectional) were included in this systematic review. Characteristics of the 32 cross-sectional included studies can be found in Table 1 .…”

“…Changes in fast-food consumption were reported in eight studies [ 19 , 20 , 24 , 25 , 28 , 34 , 35 , 46 ] and changes in ordered food were examined in three studies [ 15 , 18 , 23 ], whereas relevant results are summarized in Table 3 , Table 4 respectively. In four studies, more than 50% of the participants’ fast-food consumption remained unchanged during lockdown [ 24 , 28 , 34 , 46 ].…”

“…Less than 10% of the participants examined reported an increase in junk food consumption [ 24 , 28 , 34 ], in contrast to one study by Zajacova et al., in which an increased consumption was stated by 25.0% of the survey participants [ 46 ]. Regarding the frequency of food ordering and having food delivered at home, results varied as can be seen in Table 4 , with two studies showing a decline [ 15 , 18 ], and one showing an increase [ 23 ] (see Table 5 ).…”