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The Role of COVID-19 Pandemic and Confinement in the Nutritional and Mental Aspects of the General Population

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutrition and Public Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 December 2024 | Viewed by 2150

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, International Hellenic University, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: nutrition; anthropometry; physical activity; diet
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The COVID-19 pandemic began at the end of 2019, affecting several aspects of peoples’ daily lives, particularly including several nutritional and mental aspects of the general population. To prevent the disease from spreading, countries were obliged to enact stringent health regulations and social segregation policies. As a result of the psychological repercussions and restrictions imposed by the lockdown, the pandemic itself led to worsening lifestyle patterns worldwide, including an elevation in the intake of unhealthy foods and a decline in both compliance to healthy dietary patterns like the Mediterranean diet and physical activity. The COVID-19 pandemic also has important detrimental consequences on several aspects of mental health; thus, the WHO has stressed that the mental health of the general population is an issue of great priority. Several substantial research studies have shown that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the mental health of the general population was worsened compared with the time prior to the pandemic. The prevalence of several mental disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and stress, has significantly increased, leading to antisocial behaviors, social isolation, and loneliness. Many people have experienced negative emotional effects due to the fear of contagion and the unexpected death of relatives or friends due to COVID-19 infection, or its short- or long-term complications. Moreover, the incidence of eating disorders related with a pathopsychological background, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder, has also increased in the general population worldwide. Alarmingly, even if the COVID-19 pandemic has now been attenuated, its long-term adverse effects related with unhealthy nutritional habits and the increased prevalence of mental disorders still persist, negatively affecting the quality of life of the general population worldwide. In view of the above considerations, this Special Issue aims to focus on the role of the COVID-19 pandemic and confinement in terms of the nutritional and mental aspects of the general population, highlighting the strong demand to perform novel research studies to ameliorate the persistent long-term adverse effects related with unhealthy nutritional habits and the increased prevalence of mental disorders in an attempt to improve the quality of life of the general population worldwide.

Dr. Constantinos Giaginis
Dr. Sousana Papadopoulou
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • COVID-19 pandemic
  • human nutrition
  • public health
  • mental health
  • nutritional interventions
  • mental disorders
  • quality of life

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 903 KiB  
Article
The Association between Federal Nutrition Assistance Programs and Adolescent Food Security during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Baltimore, Maryland
by Kristin Mmari, Kaitlyn Harper, Jon Kawatachi, Marina Jenkins, Susan Gross, Stacy Lu, Rebecca Skinner and Beth Marshall
Nutrients 2024, 16(17), 2876; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16172876 - 28 Aug 2024
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Abstract
Given the lack of attention on adolescent food insecurity, the primary objective of this study was to assess the association of household participation in federal food assistance programs with food security status among adolescents in Baltimore during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adolescents, ages 14–19 [...] Read more.
Given the lack of attention on adolescent food insecurity, the primary objective of this study was to assess the association of household participation in federal food assistance programs with food security status among adolescents in Baltimore during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adolescents, ages 14–19 years, were invited to participate in two online surveys. The baseline was implemented between October 2020 and January 2021, while the follow-up took place one year later from November 2021 to January 2022 after schools had re-opened. We then matched survey participants with household participation in food nutrition assistance programs using data obtained from the Maryland Department of Social Services. We used logistic regression to examine the association between food assistance program participation status and food insecurity. Additionally, to examine whether the impact of program participation on food insecurity changed between the baseline survey and one year later at follow-up when schools re-opened, a difference-in-differences analysis was conducted. The results showed no significant associations between adolescent food security and participation in any of the federal nutrition assistance programs. Increased attention on how best to improve adolescent food security in low-income households that can respond to the unique needs of adolescents is clearly warranted. Full article
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11 pages, 783 KiB  
Article
Post-COVID-19 Changes in Appetite—An Exploratory Study
by Georgeta Inceu, Ruben Emanuel Nechifor, Adriana Rusu, Dana Mihaela Ciobanu, Nicu Catalin Draghici, Raluca Maria Pop, Anca Elena Craciun, Mihai Porojan, Matei Negrut, Gabriela Roman, Adriana Fodor and Cornelia Bala
Nutrients 2024, 16(14), 2349; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16142349 - 20 Jul 2024
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Abstract
In this analysis, we aimed to investigate the effect of COVID-19 disease on eating behavior. A total of 55 right-handed adults, <50 years of age, without overweight or obesity, from two cross-sectional studies were included. The first one enrolled subjects between September 2018 [...] Read more.
In this analysis, we aimed to investigate the effect of COVID-19 disease on eating behavior. A total of 55 right-handed adults, <50 years of age, without overweight or obesity, from two cross-sectional studies were included. The first one enrolled subjects between September 2018 and December 2019 (non-COVID-19 group). The second one included subjects enrolled between March 2022 and May 2023; for this analysis, 28 with a history of COVID-19 (COVID-19 group) were retained. Hunger, TFEQ-18, plasma ghrelin, neuropeptide Y (NPY) and resting-state fMRI were assessed during fasting. Intraregional neuronal synchronicity and connectivity were assessed by voxel-based regional homogeneity (ReHo) and degree of centrality (DC). Significantly higher ghrelin and NPY levels were observed in the COVID-19 group than in the non-COVID-19 group (ghrelin 197.5 pg/mL vs. 67.1 pg/mL, p < 0.001; NPY 128.0 pg/mL vs. 84.5 pg/mL, p = 0.005). The NPY levels positively correlated with the DC and ReHo in the left lingual (r = 0.67785 and r = 0.73604, respectively). Similar scores were noted for cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating and emotional eating in both groups according to the TFEQ-18 questionnaire results (p > 0.05 for all). Our data showed increased levels of appetite-related hormones, correlated with activity in brain regions involved in appetite regulation, persisting long after COVID-19 infection. Full article
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