Changes in Food Consumption Trends among American Adults since the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The quality and quantity of food consumption have changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we examined how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the consumption of different food groups in order to close the research gap by providing current evidence that reflects a later stage of the pandemic compared to other circulating research conducted at earlier stages. Data collection for this cross-sectional study was performed via an online Qualtrics survey from 10,050 adults aged 40-100 years. Nutritional status was measured using the 24-item short-form Dietary Screening Tool (DST) twice: before and since the COVID-19 pandemic. The DST questions were categorized based on MyPlate items, along with fat, sugar, and sweet items, as well as nutritional supplement intake. In addition, the total DST score was calculated for each participant, which categorized them into one of three groups: "at risk", "possible risk", and "not at risk". The results revealed that the consumption of grains, fruit, lean protein, and dairy decreased significantly, while the consumption of fat, sugar, and sweet items increased significantly due to COVID-19. The biggest decreases in consumption of food subcategories were related to whole grain bread and cereal, followed by fruit as a snack, in comparison with other types of grain and fruit. No changes in the consumption of vegetables, processed meat, or supplement intake were seen. The total DST score showed that, before and since COVID-19, the overall nutrition status of adult Americans has been at risk. In addition, of those participants who were not at risk before COVID-19, 28.5% were either at risk or at possible risk since COVID-19; moreover, of those participants who were at possible risk before COVID-19, 21% were at risk since COVID-19. As a good nutritional status can reduce the risk of severe illness or even mortality rate in times of crisis, the findings of this study can help policymakers and health educators to develop heath-protecting behavior sessions against future pandemics to manage crises.

A cross-sectional assessment of food practices, physical activity levels, and stress levels in middle age and older adults' during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aim: This cross-sectional study examined how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the food practices, physical activity (PA) levels, and stress levels of aging adults ages 40 years and older from seven states. It also explored to what extent the COVID-19 outcomes were affected by the social determinants of health (SDH). Subject and methods: Respondents (n = 1250) completed an online survey. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the sociodemographic attributes and COVID-19 responses while the multiple llinear regression (MLR) test evaluated to what extent the SDH variables measured were associated with the reported COVID-19 impacts food practices, PA levels, and stress levels. Results: Respondents were mostly White (75.9%), married (58.7%), age 60 years and older (61.8%), with a high school education or higher (97.4%). Most of the respondents (85.8%) live in areas that respondents perceived as supportive of health and well-being opportunities for older adults. Nearly one-half of the respondents reported maintaining their pre-pandemic grocery shopping/food buying frequency (44.7%) and PA levels (48.1%). However, 48.6% reported being "somewhat or very stressed" due to the pandemic. Findings revealed that the COVID-19 impacts on food-buying, PA levels, and stress levels were significantly influenced by age, gender, race, education, location, community, nutritional risk, quality of life, food security, and income (p < 0.05). Conclusion: These findings provide valuable information as we continue to confront the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the health and well-being of aging adults. We can use this information to inform future public health programming interventions and opportunities.

P070 COVID-19 Pandemic Changes in Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Among Various Demographic Populations

The COVID-19 pandemic caused disruptions in social, economy, food security, and stress level of different individual groups. These changes can potentially impact on eating behavior of individuals with different demographic backgrounds. The aim of this study was to determine which demographic categories showed more significant changes in fruit and vegetable consumption since COVID-19 pandemic. The study design was cross-sectional and a total of 10,035 participants aged 40-100 years old. An online survey (Dietary Screening Tool) was employed through Qualtrics between August and September 2020. Pre and since pandemic responses were analyzed by SPSS software, Wilcoxon's signed-rank tests. Participants were categorized into different groups. Participants were 57% female and 43% male including White (75%), African-American (14%), Asian (7%), and Hispanic (4%). The age distribution was 40-60 (38%), 61-80 (59%), and 81-100 (3%) years old. Since COVID-19, fruit consumption significantly reduced among female (P < 0.001), male (P =.02), age groups of 40-61 (P < 0.001) and 61-80 years old (P < 0.001), and race categories of Hispanic (P = 0.008) and White (P < 0.001), and all education categories (P < 0.001). Vegetables consumption also reduced among different demographic categories since COVID-19, although it was not statistically significant except in age categories of 40-60 (P = 0.002), and 81-100 (P = 0.002) years old. Interestingly, vegetable consumption remained the same since pandemic for college educated participants. The decrease in fruit and vegetable consumption was greater in less educated participants. Nutrition education could focus on developing strategies on how to maintain fruit and vegetable consumption during crisis situations. NIFA

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.

How COVID-19 Pandemic Changed Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables by Older Adults

This study aims to determine the changes in consumption of fruits and vegetables of older adults before and since the COVID-19 pandemic. The data collection was administered by Qualtrics through an online survey conducted in August and September 2020. The total participants were 10,050. Differences between consumption of fruits (fresh, canned, frozen) and vegetables (carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli, spinach) before and since COVID-19. Date were analyzed using the Wilcoxon’s signed-rank test. Among participants, 5,767 females (57.4%) and 4,283 males (42.6%) and the average age of 62.09 (SD=11.22). 7.1% were Asian (N=701), 4.3% were Hispanic (N=429), 14.1% were African Americans (N=1393), and 74.5% were White (N=7,390). For total participants, consumption of fruits decreased significantly (p<0.001) since COVID-19. The decrease in consumption of fruits was larger in females (p<0.001) than males (p=0.026). It is likely because consumption of fruits by males was already low before the pandemic at 27% of the amount consumed by females. The decrease in consumption of fruits was not statistically significant in Asian (p=0.096) and African American (p=0.07), but significant in Hispanic (p=0.008) and White (p<0.001) participants. African American and Hispanic participants consumed a lower number of fruits before the pandemic compared to Asian and White participants. Consumption of vegetables had no significant change since COVID-19 for total participants regardless of gender and race. This study reported a significant decrease in the consumption of fruits, but not vegetables by older adults since COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 pandemic-related changes in wellness behavior among older Americans.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 has taken its toll on citizens in all 50 states of the United States. The United States (U.S.) leads the world with 30,291,863 confirmed reported cases and 549,664 deaths as of March 29, 2021 compared to globally confirmed cases at 127,442,926 and 2,787,915 deaths as of March 29, 2021. The U.S. federal government primarily left the response to the virus to individual states, and each implemented varying measures designed to protect health of citizens and the state's economic well-being. Unintended consequences of the virus and measures to stop its spread may include decreased physical activity and exercise, shifting access and consumption of food, and lower quality-of-life. Therefore, our primary goal was to quantify the impact of COVID-19 on health and well-being by measuring changes in physical activity, mental health-quality of life, food security and nutrition in adults ages 40 and older. We believed shifts in health behaviors would be more prevalent in minorities, less educated, lower socio-economic status, older adults, and those with underlying health conditions, so a secondary goal was to determine the impact of COVID-19 on these sub-populations. METHODS: We conducted an online survey with 9969 adults 40 years and older between 9 August and 15 September 2020 in urban areas across the four U.S. census regions. The survey included questions about demographic variables, pre-existing health conditions, physical activity, access to food, quality-of-life, and nutritional food status and asked participants to respond with information from pre-pandemic and pandemic conditions. We used paired-sample t-tests to detect changes in variables after the start of the pandemic and Cohen's d to determine effect sizes. RESULTS: Our main findings showed a decrease in physical activity since the onset of COVID-19 for minorities and non-minorities. Food security also slightly increased for minorities during the pandemic, but we found no other changes in food security, quality-of-life indicators, or nutritional status of those who responded to this survey. CONCLUSIONS: It is concerning that physical activity declined. Such activity helps maintain physical and mental health, and it is also an important time to socialize for many older adults. In many ways, our data indicate that the older adult population in U.S. cities may be more resilient than expected during the pandemic. However, the pandemic could have negative impacts that we did not detect, either due to the survey instrument or the timing of our survey, so the health and well-being of older adults should continue to be monitored in order to mitigate potential negative impacts.