Food Habits and Lifestyle of Romanians in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic
The pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has produced significant changes in socio-cultural life, diet, and interpersonal relationships across the world’s population. The present study aims to identify changes in lifestyle and diet among the Romanian population one year after the onset of the COV...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Nutrients |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/3/504 |
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| author | Valentin Năstăsescu Magdalena Mititelu Tiberius Iustinian Stanciu Doina Drăgănescu Nicoleta Diana Grigore Denisa Ioana Udeanu Gabriela Stanciu Sorinel Marius Neacșu Cristina Elena Dinu-Pîrvu Eliza Oprea Manuela Ghica |
| author_facet | Valentin Năstăsescu Magdalena Mititelu Tiberius Iustinian Stanciu Doina Drăgănescu Nicoleta Diana Grigore Denisa Ioana Udeanu Gabriela Stanciu Sorinel Marius Neacșu Cristina Elena Dinu-Pîrvu Eliza Oprea Manuela Ghica |
| author_sort | Valentin Năstăsescu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has produced significant changes in socio-cultural life, diet, and interpersonal relationships across the world’s population. The present study aims to identify changes in lifestyle and diet among the Romanian population one year after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. An online questionnaire with 58 items (addressing the following aspects: socio-demographic and anthropometric data, current eating habits, and lifestyle changes) was distributed using institutional mailing lists and social media. A total number of 2040 respondents participated in the study, of whom 1464 were women, and 576 men. Among the respondents, 1598 came from urban areas and 442 from rural areas. The processing of the collected data showed significant changes in the behavior of the respondents caused by the pandemic situation with psycho-affective changes in some cases. The number of people who had anxiety, depression and nervousness increased by up to 20%. The majority of respondents (over 57%) were up to 30 years old, either students (43.50%) or employees going to workplaces (33.20%). Analyzing eating habits, we found that diet modification was needed to increase the daily consumption of fruits, vegetables, fish, and seafood. Regarding weight status during the pandemic, we noticed that 34.7% of normal-weight respondents said that they gained weight while 49.7% of overweight people and 52.5% of obese people said that they gained weight (<i>p</i> < 0.0001). Regarding psycho-emotional behavior, 11.81% of the surveyed women stated that they frequently had depressive states during the pandemic period and 11.63% of the men stated that they frequently presented depressive states during the pandemic (<i>p</i> = 0.005). |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T23:22:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3d52b22d15f94d949ec4d6ca4e02c6a3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-6643 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T23:22:17Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nutrients |
| spelling | doaj.art-3d52b22d15f94d949ec4d6ca4e02c6a32023-11-23T17:24:51ZengMDPI AGNutrients2072-66432022-01-0114350410.3390/nu14030504Food Habits and Lifestyle of Romanians in the Context of the COVID-19 PandemicValentin Năstăsescu0Magdalena Mititelu1Tiberius Iustinian Stanciu2Doina Drăgănescu3Nicoleta Diana Grigore4Denisa Ioana Udeanu5Gabriela Stanciu6Sorinel Marius Neacșu7Cristina Elena Dinu-Pîrvu8Eliza Oprea9Manuela Ghica10Department of Physical and Colloidal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, 020956 Bucharest, RomaniaDepartment of Clinical Laboratory and Food Safety, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, 020956 Bucharest, RomaniaPress Office, Ovidius University of Constanța, 900527 Constanța, RomaniaPharmaceutical Physics and Informatics Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020956 Bucharest, RomaniaDepartment of Clinical Laboratory and Food Safety, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, 020956 Bucharest, RomaniaDepartment of Clinical Laboratory and Food Safety, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, 020956 Bucharest, RomaniaDepartment of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Applied Sciences and Engineering, Ovidius University of Constanța, 900527 Constanța, RomaniaProffesional Farma Line, 116 Republicii Street, 105200 Baicoi, RomaniaDepartment of Physical and Colloidal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, 020956 Bucharest, RomaniaDepartment of Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry and Catalysis, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bucharest, 030018 Bucharest, RomaniaDepartment of Biostatistics, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, 020956 Bucharest, RomaniaThe pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has produced significant changes in socio-cultural life, diet, and interpersonal relationships across the world’s population. The present study aims to identify changes in lifestyle and diet among the Romanian population one year after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. An online questionnaire with 58 items (addressing the following aspects: socio-demographic and anthropometric data, current eating habits, and lifestyle changes) was distributed using institutional mailing lists and social media. A total number of 2040 respondents participated in the study, of whom 1464 were women, and 576 men. Among the respondents, 1598 came from urban areas and 442 from rural areas. The processing of the collected data showed significant changes in the behavior of the respondents caused by the pandemic situation with psycho-affective changes in some cases. The number of people who had anxiety, depression and nervousness increased by up to 20%. The majority of respondents (over 57%) were up to 30 years old, either students (43.50%) or employees going to workplaces (33.20%). Analyzing eating habits, we found that diet modification was needed to increase the daily consumption of fruits, vegetables, fish, and seafood. Regarding weight status during the pandemic, we noticed that 34.7% of normal-weight respondents said that they gained weight while 49.7% of overweight people and 52.5% of obese people said that they gained weight (<i>p</i> < 0.0001). Regarding psycho-emotional behavior, 11.81% of the surveyed women stated that they frequently had depressive states during the pandemic period and 11.63% of the men stated that they frequently presented depressive states during the pandemic (<i>p</i> = 0.005).https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/3/504COVID-19 pandemicSARS-CoV-2diet changeslifestyle changessocial life changespsycho-affective changes |
| spellingShingle | Valentin Năstăsescu Magdalena Mititelu Tiberius Iustinian Stanciu Doina Drăgănescu Nicoleta Diana Grigore Denisa Ioana Udeanu Gabriela Stanciu Sorinel Marius Neacșu Cristina Elena Dinu-Pîrvu Eliza Oprea Manuela Ghica Food Habits and Lifestyle of Romanians in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic Nutrients COVID-19 pandemic SARS-CoV-2 diet changes lifestyle changes social life changes psycho-affective changes |
| title | Food Habits and Lifestyle of Romanians in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_full | Food Habits and Lifestyle of Romanians in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_fullStr | Food Habits and Lifestyle of Romanians in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Food Habits and Lifestyle of Romanians in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_short | Food Habits and Lifestyle of Romanians in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_sort | food habits and lifestyle of romanians in the context of the covid 19 pandemic |
| topic | COVID-19 pandemic SARS-CoV-2 diet changes lifestyle changes social life changes psycho-affective changes |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/3/504 |
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