Cargando…

Dietary Changes and Anxiety during the Coronavirus Pandemic: Differences between the Sexes

The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has been associated with both increased anxiety, deterioration in diet and weight gain. These associations may differ by sex. The present report examines differences by sex in diet quality in order to determine whether associations between diet and psychological st...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Boaz, Mona, Navarro, Daniela Abigail, Raz, Olga, Kaufman-Shriqui, Vered
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8703590/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34959744
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13124193
_version_ 1784621500419014656
author Boaz, Mona
Navarro, Daniela Abigail
Raz, Olga
Kaufman-Shriqui, Vered
author_facet Boaz, Mona
Navarro, Daniela Abigail
Raz, Olga
Kaufman-Shriqui, Vered
author_sort Boaz, Mona
collection PubMed
description The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has been associated with both increased anxiety, deterioration in diet and weight gain. These associations may differ by sex. The present report examines differences by sex in diet quality in order to determine whether associations between diet and psychological stress during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic differed by sex. This online study is available internationally in seven languages. The Mediterranean Diet Score was used to measure diet quality, while the General Anxiety Disorder 7-point scale (GAD-7) was used to measure anxiety. Findings were compared by self-reported sex (male vs. female). A total of 3797 respondents provided informed consent and met eligibility criteria, of whom 526 women were omitted due to being pregnant or six months or less post-partum, or due to reproductive status not being reported. Thus, 3271 individuals are included in the present report, of whom 71.2% were women. The median age of women was 30 (interquartile range (IQR) = 16) years vs. 31 (IQR = 19) years, p = 0.079. The median diet quality score was 9 (IQ = 3) in both women and men (p = 0.75). Despite the overall similarity in diet score, several components of the score differed significantly by sex. Women reported consuming significantly more olive oil, daily servings of vegetables, and weekly servings of sweet baked goods. Men reported consuming significantly more sweetened/carbonated drinks, red meat, alcohol, legumes, and hummus/tahini. Women reported a GAD-7 score of 6 (IQR = 8), while men reported 3 (6), p < 0.001. An inverse association was detected between the Mediterranean diet score and the GAD-7 score in both women (rho = −0.166, p < 0.001) and men (rho = −0.154, p < 0.001), and the correlation coefficients did not differ by sex (p = 0.76). Mediterranean diet score and age both reduced the odds of elevated anxiety (GAD-7 ≥ 10), while female sex, deterioration of diet quality during the outbreak, unemployment, and completing the survey in English increased the odds of this outcome. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, overall diet quality did not differ by sex; however, some differences by sex in components of the total score were detected. Moderate to severe anxiety was positively associated with female sex and poorer diet quality even after controlling for age, employment status, and the language in which the survey was performed.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8703590
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-87035902021-12-25 Dietary Changes and Anxiety during the Coronavirus Pandemic: Differences between the Sexes Boaz, Mona Navarro, Daniela Abigail Raz, Olga Kaufman-Shriqui, Vered Nutrients Article The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has been associated with both increased anxiety, deterioration in diet and weight gain. These associations may differ by sex. The present report examines differences by sex in diet quality in order to determine whether associations between diet and psychological stress during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic differed by sex. This online study is available internationally in seven languages. The Mediterranean Diet Score was used to measure diet quality, while the General Anxiety Disorder 7-point scale (GAD-7) was used to measure anxiety. Findings were compared by self-reported sex (male vs. female). A total of 3797 respondents provided informed consent and met eligibility criteria, of whom 526 women were omitted due to being pregnant or six months or less post-partum, or due to reproductive status not being reported. Thus, 3271 individuals are included in the present report, of whom 71.2% were women. The median age of women was 30 (interquartile range (IQR) = 16) years vs. 31 (IQR = 19) years, p = 0.079. The median diet quality score was 9 (IQ = 3) in both women and men (p = 0.75). Despite the overall similarity in diet score, several components of the score differed significantly by sex. Women reported consuming significantly more olive oil, daily servings of vegetables, and weekly servings of sweet baked goods. Men reported consuming significantly more sweetened/carbonated drinks, red meat, alcohol, legumes, and hummus/tahini. Women reported a GAD-7 score of 6 (IQR = 8), while men reported 3 (6), p < 0.001. An inverse association was detected between the Mediterranean diet score and the GAD-7 score in both women (rho = −0.166, p < 0.001) and men (rho = −0.154, p < 0.001), and the correlation coefficients did not differ by sex (p = 0.76). Mediterranean diet score and age both reduced the odds of elevated anxiety (GAD-7 ≥ 10), while female sex, deterioration of diet quality during the outbreak, unemployment, and completing the survey in English increased the odds of this outcome. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, overall diet quality did not differ by sex; however, some differences by sex in components of the total score were detected. Moderate to severe anxiety was positively associated with female sex and poorer diet quality even after controlling for age, employment status, and the language in which the survey was performed. MDPI 2021-11-23 /pmc/articles/PMC8703590/ /pubmed/34959744 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13124193 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Boaz, Mona
Navarro, Daniela Abigail
Raz, Olga
Kaufman-Shriqui, Vered
Dietary Changes and Anxiety during the Coronavirus Pandemic: Differences between the Sexes
title Dietary Changes and Anxiety during the Coronavirus Pandemic: Differences between the Sexes
title_full Dietary Changes and Anxiety during the Coronavirus Pandemic: Differences between the Sexes
title_fullStr Dietary Changes and Anxiety during the Coronavirus Pandemic: Differences between the Sexes
title_full_unstemmed Dietary Changes and Anxiety during the Coronavirus Pandemic: Differences between the Sexes
title_short Dietary Changes and Anxiety during the Coronavirus Pandemic: Differences between the Sexes
title_sort dietary changes and anxiety during the coronavirus pandemic: differences between the sexes
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8703590/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34959744
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13124193
work_keys_str_mv AT boazmona dietarychangesandanxietyduringthecoronaviruspandemicdifferencesbetweenthesexes
AT navarrodanielaabigail dietarychangesandanxietyduringthecoronaviruspandemicdifferencesbetweenthesexes
AT razolga dietarychangesandanxietyduringthecoronaviruspandemicdifferencesbetweenthesexes
AT kaufmanshriquivered dietarychangesandanxietyduringthecoronaviruspandemicdifferencesbetweenthesexes