A Snapshot of the Experience of Dietitians during the COVID-19 Crisis in Five Arab Countries: Findings from a Regional Cross-Sectional Study.

COVID-19's intimidating spread has challenged the resilience of the global health systems, causing shifts in the practices of healthcare workers, including dietitians. The current study aimed to assess the change in dietitians' practices and duties in hospitals/clinics after the commencement of COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-sectional study was conducted in five Arab countries between November 2020 and January 2021. A convenient sample of 903 dietitians filled an online self-administered questionnaire to meet the study aims. Nearly 40.0% of the dietitians experienced a change in their workload and caseload during the pandemic. Besides, 18.7% of the dietitians had been assigned additional tasks in their facilities. Nearly half the dietitians (46.9%) had started giving remote nutrition consultations, associated with a 21% drop in the number of dietitians offering in-person consultations (p = 0.001). Approximately 58.9% of the dietitians provided nutrition care to COVID-19 patients, with 48.4% having access to personal protective equipment. Moreover, 17.0% of dietitians supported COVID-19 patients with enteral and parenteral nutrition. In addition, 45.0% of dietitians reported that managing COVID-19 was challenging given that it was a newly discovered condition.

Determining the correlation between olive oil consumption, BMI, and waist circumference in the adult Saudi population.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the correlation between dietary intake of olive oil, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC). METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we recruited 200 participants aged 20-30 years using pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Demographic data was collected via a questionnaire, while dietary data was collected for two days using a 24-hour dietary recall. Anthropometric data such as BMI and WC were collected, and all the information was entered into the Diet Organizer software and statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software for statistical analysis. The test results were assessed on the basis of a significance level of 95% (p < 0.05). RESULTS: We did not find a significant difference in BMI and WC between high and low olive oil consumers. Carbohydrate intake was significantly higher among low olive oil consumers. Although high olive oil consumers had a significantly higher caloric intake, they had a similar BMI compared to low olive oil consumers. CONCLUSION: This study provides baseline data on the intake of olive oil in a Saudi cohort aged 20-30 years. This study suggests that high olive oil intake may have a role in maintaining body weight.