COVID-19 Pandemic Beverages Consumption Among White and Non-White Older Adults in the United States

OBJECTIVES: The aim is to examine how consumption of different beverages (i.e., juice, milk, and alcohol) among White and Non-white populations changed since COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted among a national sample of older adults by Qualtrics between August 9 and September 15, 2020, in urban areas across the four U.S. census regions. A total of 9,903 adults 40–100 years old. The online survey included questions on demographic variables and a Dietary Screening Tool (DST) and asked participants to respond to questions from pre-pandemic and pandemic conditions. The internal consistency reliability for the DST was 0.61 and 0.62for the pre-pandemic and pandemic respectively. The beverages were questions about “How often do you drink some kind of juice at breakfast?”, “How often do you drink a glass of milk?”, and “Do you usually drink wine, beer or other alcoholic beverages?”. To analyze the data, pre and post pandemic responses were compared by Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and McNamar tests via SPSS software. RESULTS: Participants were 75% White and 25% Non-white including African American (14%), Hispanic (4%), and Asian (7%). They were 57% female and 43% male. According to the analysis, juice and milk consumption reduced significantly among non-white participants (P = .007, and P = 0.04) while no change was observed in White participants since the pandemic. Interestingly, Alcoholic beverages consumption significantly reduced among both Non-white (P = 0.05) and White participants (P < .001). Also, according to the gender analysis, both male and female White participants only showed a significantly reduced consumption of alcoholic beverage (P = .02). However, Non-white male participants had significantly reduction in all three beverages (Juice (P = .01), milk (P < .001), and alcoholic beverages (P = .004) while white female participants only consumed a reduced number of alcoholic beverages (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Different beverage consumption were reduced among male Non-white participants since COVID-19 pandemic, while just alcohol consumption was reduced among (male/female White and female Non-white) participant. The reductions in certain beverage consumption may be directly related to financial instability and health knowledge of male Non-white groups. FUNDING SOURCES: USDA/NIFA.