Eating Habits and Lifestyle during COVID-19 Lockdown in the United Arab Emirates: A Cross-Sectional Study

Ismail, Leila Cheikh; Osaili, Tareq M.; Mohamad, Maysm N.; Marzouqi, Amina Al; Jarrar, Amjad H.; Jamous, Dima O. Abu; Magriplis, Emmanuella; Ali, Habiba I.; Sabbah, Haleama Al; Hasan, Hayder; AlMarzooqi, Latifa Mohammed Rashid; Stojanovska, Lily; Hashim, Mona; Obaid, Reyad S.; Saleh, Sheima T.; Dhaheri, Ayesha S. Al

doi:10.3390/nu12113314

Cited by 218 publications

(251 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…Increased fruit and vegetable intake is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, and all-cause mortality [64], yet even pre-pandemic, most Americans did not meet the national recommendations for fruit and vegetable intake [65]. Our finding of reduced intake are similar to those from studies conducted recently in France (Constant et al 2020) and the United Arab Emirates [37] finding lower fruit and vegetable intake during COVID-19 associated lockdowns. Respondents using AHFP were on average eating ½ cup more each of fruits and vegetables daily; higher fruit and vegetable intake is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and mortality [64].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Emerging evidence indicates that dietary quality has decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic in many places (e.g. [37, 38], offering potential opportunities for HFP to counter such trends. Existing evidence of HFP activities since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic is limited, though our previous work found about half of respondents reported producing, foraging, hunting, or canning last year and nearly one third were engaging in those activities at the time of the survey [39] (Belarmino et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Home Food Procurement Impacts Food Security and Diet Quality during COVID-19

Niles

Wirkkala

Belarmino

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background: Home food procurement (HFP) (i.e. gardening, fishing, foraging, hunting, backyard livestock and canning) have historically been important ways that people obtain food. Recently, some HFP activities have grown (e.g. gardening), while other activities (e.g. hunting) have become less common in the United States. Anecdotally, COVID-19 has sparked an increase in HFP evidenced by increased hunting licenses and shortages in seeds and canning supplies. HFP may have positive benefits for food security and diet quality, though research beyond gardening is especially limited in high-income countries. Methods: We examine HFP activities before and since the COVID-19 pandemic, and their relationship to food security and dietary quality using multivariable logit models and matching analysis with a statewide representative survey (n=600) of residents of Vermont, United States. Results: We find 29% of respondent households classified as food insecure since COVID-19, and more prevalence among those experiencing a negative job change since COVID-19, households earning less than $50,000 annually, Hispanic and multi-race respondents. Forty-two percent of respondents engaged in HFP activities; the majority of those gardened, and more than half pursued HFP activities more intensely than before the pandemic. HFP was more common among food insecure households, who were more likely to fish, forage, hunt and have backyard livestock. Respondents who were food insecure, Black, Indigenous, People of Color and/or Hispanic, those with a negative job disruption, and larger households all had greater odds of increased intensity of HFP since COVID-19. HFP were significantly associated with eating greater amounts of fruits and vegetables, especially if gardening and canning, while respondents hunting or having backyard livestock were significantly more likely to have higher red meat intake. Conclusion: Overall, these results suggest that HFP activities have increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and may be an important safety net for food insecure households, and provide diet quality impacts. Long-term, HFP activities may have important food security and diet quality impacts, as well as conservation implications, which should be more thoroughly explored. Regardless, the increased interest and intensity of HFP demonstrates multiple opportunities for educational and outreach efforts.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Home Food Procurement Impacts Food Security and Diet Quality during COVID-19

Niles

Wirkkala

Belarmino

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…If lockdowns were not enforced, it is likely that these clades would be less distinguisable as mutations are spread between countries. Though the lockdowns has other effects on various socio-econimical aspects [ 17 , 19 ]. As we expected, 2 of the highest branches points attach to Iranian samples, further implementing Iran in the initial spread across the Middle East.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variant analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genomes in the Middle East

Bindayna

Crinion

2021

Microbial Pathogenesis

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Background Coronavirus (COVID-19) was introduced into society in late 2019 and has now reached over 88 million cases and 1.9 million deaths. The Middle East has a death toll of ~80,000 and over 35000 of these are in Iran, which has over 1.2 million confirmed cases. We expect that Iranian cases caused outbreaks in the neighbouring countries and that variant mapping and phylogenetic analysis can be used to prove this. We also aim to analyse the variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS -CoV-2) to characterise the common genome variants and provide useful data in the global effort to prevent further spread of COVID-19. Methods The approach uses bioinformatics approaches including multiple sequence alignment, variant calling and annotation and phylogenetic analysis to identify the genomic variants found in the region. The approach uses 122 samples from the 13 countries of the Middle East sourced from the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID). Findings We identified 2200 distinct genome variants including 129 downstream gene variants, 298 frame shift variants, 789 missense variants, 1 start lost, 13 start gained, 1 stop lost, 249 synonymous variants and 720 upstream gene variants. The most common, high impact variants were 10818delTinsG, 2772delCinsC, 14159delCinsC and 2789delAinsA. These high impact variant ultimately results in 36 number of mutations on spike glycoprotein. Variant alignment and phylogenetic tree generation indicates that samples from Iran likely introduced COVID-19 to the rest of the Middle East. Interpretation The phylogenetic and variant analysis provides unique insight into mutation types in genomes. Initial introduction of COVID-19 was most likely due to Iranian transmission. Some countries show evidence of novel mutations and unique strains. Increased time in small populations is likely to contribute to more unique genomes. This study provides more in depth analysis of the variants affecting in the region than any other study.

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“…Results for changes in diet quality are difficult to compare because of differences in diet assessment across studies, with some showing the proportion of those who increased or decreased the consumption of certain products (11,15,56,57), others asking participants to report their self-perceived changes in quality (55,58), and only a few studies providing validated diet quality scores (17,18,59). Even for the latter, comparisons are limited due to the use of different scales; for instance, in a Spanish study, confinement was associated with a mean increase of 0.8 points in the MEDAS score (17), in one French study it was associated with a mean reduction of 0.32 points in the simplified PNNS-GS2 index (18), while in another study it was associated with equivalent increases or decreases in the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (59).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in health behaviors, mental and physical health among older adults under severe lockdown restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain

García‐Esquinas

Ortol

Gine-Vazquez

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background: We aimed to examine main changes in health behaviors, mental and physical health among older adults under severe lockdown restrictions during the COVID-19. Methods: We used prospective data from 3041 participants in four cohorts of community-dwelling individuals aged ≥65 years in Spain. Data were obtained using validated questionnaires through a pre-pandemic face-to-face interview and a telephone interview conducted between weeks 7 to 15 after the beginning the COVID-19 lockdown. Lineal or multinomial, as appropriate, regression models with adjustment for the main confounders were used to assess changes in the outcome variables from the pre-pandemic to the confinement period, and to identify their associated factors. Results: On average, the confinement was not associated with a deterioration in lifestyle risk factors (smoking, alcohol intake, diet or weight), except for a decreased physical activity and increased sedentary time, which reversed with the end of confinement. However, chronic pain worsened, and moderate declines in mental health, that did not seem to reverse after restrictions were lifted, were observed. Several subgroups of individuals were at increased risk of developing unhealthier lifestyles or mental health decline with confinement: (i)-males (for physical activity and sedentariness), (ii)-those with greater social isolation (for diet, physical activity, mental health), (iii)-feelings of loneliness (for diet, sleep quality, mental health), (iv)-poor housing conditions (for diet, physical activity, TV viewing time), (v)-unhealthy sleep duration (for physical activity and sedentariness), and (vi-worse overall health or chronic morbidities (for physical activity, screen time, mental health). On the other hand, previously having a greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet and doing more physical activity protected older adults from developing unhealthier lifestyles with confinement. Conclusions: The lockdown during the first wave of the COVID-19 in Spain, which was one of the most restrictive in Europe, only led to minor average changes in health behaviors among older adults. However, mental health was moderately affected. If another lockdown were imposed on this or future pandemics, public health programs should specially address the needs of older individuals with male sex, greater social isolation, poor housing conditions and chronic morbidities, because of their greater vulnerability to the enacted movement restrictions

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Eating Habits and Lifestyle during COVID-19 Lockdown in the United Arab Emirates: A Cross-Sectional Study

Cited by 218 publications

References 75 publications

Home Food Procurement Impacts Food Security and Diet Quality during COVID-19

Home Food Procurement Impacts Food Security and Diet Quality during COVID-19

Variant analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genomes in the Middle East

Changes in health behaviors, mental and physical health among older adults under severe lockdown restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain

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