Adult eating behavior at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: Difficulties in accessing food and social distancing triggered more anxiety, stress and consumption of low-cost and ultra-processed foods. Objective: To investigate changes in eating behavior and its relationship with socioeconomic aspects. Method: Study conducted virtually between May and June 2020 with 949 adults, with questionnaires on socioeconomic data, changes in eating behavior, frequency of food consumption and the TFEQ-21. The analysis was performed descriptively and the TFEQ-21 according to the scores of each factor. The relationship between the variableswas analyzed using Pearson's correlation test. Results: 63% considered cooking more food, 41% and 38% said they were more likely to eat with company and in peace, respectively. 38.6% reduced fast-food purchases, but 43.2% increased food consumption and 41.8% consumption of sweets. In women, the higher the BMI, the greater the emotional eating and cognitive restriction (p<0.001). In these, emotional eating was greater if they did not have children or higher education (p<0.001), and the restriction was greater with physical activity, not having a stable relationship, having children (p<0.001), employment and higher education (p<0.05). In men, emotional eating was related to higher BMI (p<0.05) and both variables were related to physical activity (p<0.001). Conclusion: Changes such as cooking more, reducing fast food, eating calmly and with company were observed compared to before the pandemic. It is noted that in women there is a greater relationship between restriction and emotional eating with various aspects of the social and economic context.