Nutritional habits and emotional eating of adults during social isolation days due to Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

Purpose: In this study, the effect of BMI values on eating habits and emotional eating of individuals in social isolation and quarantine process implemented in Turkey as a result of COVID-19 pandemic were investigated. Materials and methods: An online questionnaire was used in this cross-sectional study. A total of 2019 participants were included in the study between April and May 2020. Individuals' nutritional behaviors, emotional eating scores using the three-factor eating questionnaire stress level, appetite status, desire to eat desserts and anxiety about food access using a visual analog scale were evaluated with the questionnaire. Results: The study participated 1589 women and 430 men over the ages of 20. The obesity rate was 8.7% in women and 19.3% in men. There was a relationship between the stress score and the change in consumed food in women and in men. Involuntary weight changes were found significant in both men and women compared to BMI groups. Cereal and starchy food consumption were found to be related to BMI groups in men and women. It was determined that the average appetite levels and Emotional Eating Scale scores in both sexes were different between BMI groups. Conclusions: The findings show that the participants' eating habits have changed in quarantine-related social isolation. Emotional eating has increased in direct proportion with BMI, and involuntary weight gain has increased.

The Impact of the First and Second Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Eating Symptoms and Dysfunctional Eating Behaviours in the General Population: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…A total of 35 studies examined the relationship between FEDs and domains of psychosocial distress during the COVID-19 outbreak (e.g., depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress symptoms) ( Table 3 ). Specifically, five studies assessed COVID-related distress [ 53 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 ], whereas the majority assessed different domains of psychological distress in a short time lag (last 24 h or the “past week”), during the COVID-19 restrictions [ 50 , 76 , 83 , 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 ]. These psychopathological outcomes were grouped in the same meta-analysis because of the low number of studies.…”

“…These psychopathological outcomes were grouped in the same metaanalysis because of the low number of studies. Evidence of positive correlation with psychosocial distress was found for weight gain (r = 0.28, 95% CI = 0.11-0.44) [52,53,76,86,87,89,91,99,104,105], body image concerns (r = 0.20, 95% CI = 0.00-0.40) [50,100,101], overeating (r = 0.36, 95% CI = 0.08-0.06), and emotional eating (r = 0.30, 95% CI = 0.22-0.38) [36,[85][86][87][88]90,93,[96][97][98]100,102,103]. The analyses suggested that many effect sizes were highly heterogeneous (I 2 range 89.07 to 99.08%, see Table 3).…”

Emotional Overeating during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Polish Adolescents’ COVID-19 Experience (PLACE-19) Study

“…Madalı et al [38] confirmed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, a higher frequency of emotional eating was observed in the sub-group of obese adult participants of the study than in normal weight and underweight ones. Yılmaz et al [39] observed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, emotional eating increased in direct proportion with increasing BMI, and involuntary weight gain in an adult population. McAtamney et al [40] indicated that adult respondents who were characterized by emotional eating behaviors increasing during the COVID-19 pandemic simultaneously demonstrated increasing depression levels.…”