Digital Healthy Diet Literacy and Fear of COVID-19 as Associated with Treatment Adherence and Its Subscales among Hemodialysis Patients: A Multi-Hospital Study.

Treatment adherence (TA) is a critical issue and is under-investigated in hemodialysis patients. A multi-center study was conducted from July 2020 to March 2021 on 972 hemodialysis patients in eight hospitals in Vietnam to explore the factors associated with TA during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected, including socio-demographics, an End-Stage Renal Disease Adherence Questionnaire (ESRD-AQ), 12-item short-form health literacy questionnaire (HLS-SF12), 4-item digital healthy diet literacy scale (DDL), 10-item hemodialysis dietary knowledge scale (HDK), 7-item fear of COVID-19 scale (FCoV-19S), and suspected COVID-19 symptoms (S-COVID19-S). Bivariate and multivariate linear regression models were used to explore the associations. Higher DDL scores were associated with higher TA scores (regression coefficient, B, 1.35; 95% confidence interval, 95%CI, 0.59, 2.12; p = 0.001). Higher FCoV-19S scores were associated with lower TA scores (B, -1.78; 95%CI, -3.33, -0.24; p = 0.023). In addition, patients aged 60-85 (B, 24.85; 95%CI, 6.61, 43.11; p = 0.008) with "very or fairly easy" medication payment ability (B, 27.92; 95%CI, 5.89, 44.95; p = 0.013) had higher TA scores. Patients who underwent hemodialysis for ≥5 years had a lower TA score than those who received <5 years of hemodialysis (B, -52.87; 95%CI, -70.46, -35.28; p < 0.001). These findings suggested that DDL and FCoV-19S, among other factors, should be considered in future interventions to improve TA in hemodialysis patients.

The healthful plant-based diet index as a tool for obesity prevention-The healthy lifestyle community program cohort 3 study.

Background: World-wide the prevalence of obesity is high, and promoting a shift toward more healthful and more plant-based dietary patterns appears to be one promising strategy to address this issue. A dietary score to assess adherence to a healthy plant-based diet is the healthful plant-based diet index. While there is evidence from cohort studies that an increased healthful plant-based diet index is associated with improved risk markers, evidence from intervention studies is still lacking. Methods: A lifestyle intervention was conducted with mostly middle-aged and elderly participants from the general population (n = 115). The intervention consisted of a 16-month lifestyle program focusing on a healthy plant-based diet, physical activity, stress management, and community support. Results: After 10 weeks, significant improvements were seen in dietary quality, body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, total cholesterol, measured and calculated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, oxidized LDL particles, non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, remnant cholesterol, glucose, insulin, blood pressure, and pulse pressure. After 16 months, significant decreases were seen in body weight (-1.8 kg), body mass index (-0.6 kg/m2), and measured LDL cholesterol (-12 mg/dl). Increases in the healthful plant-based diet index were associated with risk marker improvements. Conclusions: The recommendation of moving toward a plant-based diet appears acceptable and actionable and may improve body weight. The healthful plant-based diet index can be a useful parameter for intervention studies.

SARS-CoV-2 Alpha Variant Infection of a Patient Immunized by Inactive Sinovac (CoronaVac) Vaccine

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first detected in December 2019, and shortly after pandemic has been declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) due to its unstoppable global spread. Considerable amount of effort has beenput around the World in order to develop a safe and effective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. Inactivated and RNA vaccines have already passed phase three studies showing sufficient efficacy and safety, respectively. Nowadays, there is a noticeable dominance of SARS-CoV-2 variants with various mutations over the wild type SARS-CoV-2. However, there is no report showing the efficacy of these vaccines on these variants. This case study describes a thirty-eight-year-old male reported to be infected with SARS-CoV-2 alpha variant following two doses of inactive CoronaVac administration with a protective level of SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies. The variant analysis of the virus reported to be positive for N501Y mutation.This is the first case in the literature demonstrating that inactive SARS-CoV-2 vaccine might have a lower efficacy on alpha variant.Copyright © 2022 Cenk Serhan Ozverel et al., published by Sciendo.

Development Of Technology for Obtaining Natural Nutriceutics in Solid Form

This article discusses development of technology for obtaining natural nutriceutics in solid form. Currently, a healthy lifestyle, a healthy diet and the body's resistance to external negative factors have become topical issues, especially after the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Basically, the prevention and treatment of diseases occurs due to the replenishment of the complex of bioactive substances that the body receives from healthy food. Otherwise, if the tissues and organs do not receive the elements necessary for the normal functioning of the body, then the strength to fight the disease decreases. Here, dietary supplements, that is, nutraceuticals, play an important role, they are consumed with food and are mainly obtained from products of natural origin: vegetable, animal and bacterial.Copyright © 2023, Codon Publications. All rights reserved.

The Health Hexagon Model: Postulating a holistic lifestyle approach to mental health for times and places of uncertainty

Professional-driven mental health services are often predicated on westernized beliefs of mental health and distress. This presumptuous view results in treatment solutions that are not suitable to (many) non-western contexts because they are neither culturally valid nor practically sufficient. Instead of promoting imported ideas of mental health, we encourage communities, including Hong Kong, from and for where the authors primarily theorize the current thesis, to turn to and strengthen the resources they employed before the medicalization of distress and suffering. Basic foundational elements in one's everyday life, which we present here as the Health Hexagon Model, should be promoted, especially healthy sleep, healthy diet, regular physical activity, closeness with nature, supportive kinships and friendships, and a sense of purpose, meaning, or sacredness. These elements are not novel;the importance of these basic elements has been recognized, distilled, and transmitted generation after generation. We advocate for communities to identify the missing or hampered fundamental elements in their lives and focus on finding methods that would help them adopt a lifestyle conducive to individual and collective health. This call-to-action is particularly timely as the global community fights for its survival against the coronavirus and ponders ways to cope with the seismic changes in lifestyle it has brought.Copyright © 2022 The Authors

A Novel Approach for Predicting Covid 19 Recovered Cases using Nourishment by Comparing KNN over SVM

To predict the accuracy value of COVID19 recovered number of patients using Nourishment. Material and Methods: For forecasting accuracy percentage of COVID19 recovered patient health diet, Novel K Nearest Neighbour with test size (N=10) and Support Vector Machine with test size (N=10) were iterated 20 times to COVID19 recovered number of patients with g power as 80 %, threshold 0.014 and confidence interval as 95%. Sigmoid function is used in K Nearest Neighbour prediction to probability to help enhance accuracy. Results: In comparison to Support Vector Machine 66% percent Accuracy, Novel K Nearest Neighbour produced substantial results with 94 % Accuracy. Support Vector Machine and K Nearest Neighbour statistical significance is p=1.000(p<0.05) Independent sample T-test value states that the results in the study are significant. Conclusion: KNN is a straightforward and efficient algorithm for quickly building Models of machine learning. KNN predicting COVID19 Health Diet % with more accuracy. © 2022 IEEE.

A naturopathy knowledge graph and recommendation system to boost the immune system: KISS: Knowledge-based Immune System Suggestion

Because of COVID-19 worldwide pandemic, there is a need for any complementary solutions to boost the immune system. Nowadays, healthy lifestyle, fitness, and diet habits have become central applications in our daily life. We designed a Naturopathy Knowledge Graph for a recommender system to boost the immune system (KISS: Knowledge-based Immune System Suggestion). The Naturopathy Knowledge Graph is built from more than 50 ontology-based food projects, also released as the LOV4IoT-Food ontology catalog. The naturopathy data set is referenced on the Linked Open Data (LOD) cloud. The LOV4IoT-Food ontology catalog encourages researchers to follow FAIR principles and share their reproducible experiments by publishing online their ontologies, data sets, rules, etc. The set of the ontology code shared online can be semiautomatically processed, if not available, the scientific publications describing the food ontologies are semiautomatically processed with Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques. We build the naturopathy recommender system that will suggest food to boost the immune system. The recommender system can be extended to address other advice such as aromatherapy and take into consideration medical devices to monitor patients' vital signals. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The PreVASC Clinic: Can we Identify and Support High-Risk Post-Partum Patients in Cardiovascular Risk Reduction?

Background & Purpose: Hypertension Canada's 2020 clinical practice guidelines emphasize the importance of education and cardiovascular risk reduction for patients after the hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP). While 18 specialized clinics across Canada were developed to address this clinical need, they are limited by low rates of patient follow-up. Understanding the experiences and preferences of patients attending these clinics may help improve attendance and ultimately health outcomes. As such, this study's objective was to examine the experiences of patients attending Calgary's PreVASC clinic (which offers an initial consultation 3-6 months after delivery and annual follow-up for CVD risk factor screening and management) to inform CVD preventive care tailored for people after HDP. Method(s): This multi-method study was conducted in two stages: 1) quantitative electronic survey of patient experiences;and 2) individual semi-structured interviews conducted by phone. Eligible participants included patients who attended at least one clinic visit and consented to participate. Quantitative survey results were summarized with descriptive statistics and qualitative interviews were grouped thematically by two independent reviewers. Results were triangulated between the survey and interviews. Result(s): 74 of 115 (64%) eligible patients consented and 57% (n=42) completed the electronicsurvey. Overall, 79% (n=33) of patients reported being very satisfied with the PreVASC clinic;95% (n=40) reported making at least one health behavior change (e.g., heart-healthy diet or increasing physical activity);and 31% (n=23) reported a medication change. 11 participants completed interviews to achieve theme saturation which found improvements in health literacy and reductions in anxiety levels. Patients reported preferences for a specialty care provider and face-to-face visits despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion(s): While patients reported high-satisfaction with an in-person model of CVD preventive care, additional research should examine the long-term impacts of clinical programs specifically tailored for people after HDP on patient-important health outcomes.

Assessing the Impact of Corona Pandemic on Adopting Healthy Habits Among People of Uttar Pradesh

Background: The role of physical activity and a healthy diet for improving overall health is known to all. Sudden lockdown, imposed by the Indian government for the containment of the Corona virus disease in March 2020, has affected the physical, mental and emotional health of everyone in the country. Objectives: This paper is aimed to access the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on the healthy habits of the people of Uttar Pradesh. It also tried to explore the reason why someone not able to adapt the healthy habits. Method: An online survey was conducted among the people having smartphones and internet accessibility in Uttar Pradesh. Questions related to their daily routine and diets were asked. More than two hundred participants have taken part in the survey. Then BMI, immunity through diet, and Physical immunity were calculated. Different statistical methods were applied to find relations and associations among the variables. Results: Maximum respondents were below the age of 35 (89%, n = 178), hence they have a good physical immune system, but only 56 percent (n = 112) were having BMI in the normal range. Most of them were conscious about the impact of exercise and a healthy diet on their health then also only 68 percent (n = 136) were involved in any sort of exercise. Conclusion: People of Uttar Pradesh are aware of the healthy habits and diet required to improve the immune system. Taking a healthy diet and regular exercise is part of the day for many and those who lack motivation are unable to do so. © 2023 DMICS.

Home Remedies, Dietary and Lifestyle Changes during Covid-19 Pandemic

December 2019 has become one of the most surprising days in the whole world in light of the flare-up of a most infectious sickness brought about by novel Covid or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This study is conducted to assess the benefits of the use of home remedies to prevent the cause of Covid-19 and evaluate the assessment of dietary changes and physical activity in the prevention of Covid-19. A questionnaire-based online survey is conducted using Google forms consisting of multiple-choice questions about home remedies, lifestyle and dietary changes made by the people during this pandemic. These home remedies included using different types of herbal preparations, steam inhalation, physical exercise and OTC medications for prophylaxis. Questions likewise included about being infected by Coronavirus-19(during first wave or second) and their recovery period, additionally collected their viewpoint for changes made, for example how much they are useful in the prevention of the attack and whenever encountered any undesirable impacts. Total responses were 210, among which 121(57.6%) responses were from females and 89(42.4%) from males. 65 people tested Covid positive (42 during the first wave and 23 during the second wave). 118(56.2%) of people think these changes are very beneficial. (Rated 4 and 5 out of 5 points). From our survey, we concluded that different herbal preparations of their composition, which they thought are helpful, and steam inhalations have been used. Rating regarding the use and effectiveness was also found to be average. Further studies are needed to prove and provide clear evidence about adverse and side effects associated with the use of herbal products.Copyright © 2022 Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research. All rights reserved.

Long COVID: Rapid Evidence Review

Postacute sequelae of COVID-19, also known as long COVID, affects approximately 10% to 30% of the hundreds of millions of people who have had acute COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines long COVID as the presence of new, returning, or ongoing symptoms associated with acute COVID-19 that persist beyond 28 days. The diagnosis of long COVID can be based on a previous clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 and does not require a prior positive polymerase chain reaction or antigen test result to confirm infection. Patients with long COVID report a broad range of symptoms, including abdominal pain, anosmia, chest pain, cognitive impairment (brain fog), dizziness, dyspnea, fatigue, headache, insomnia, mood changes, palpitations, paresthesias, and postexertional malaise. The presentation is variable, and symptoms can fluctuate or persist and relapse and remit. The diagnostic approach is to differentiate long COVID from acute sequelae of COVID-19, previous comorbidities, unmasking of preexisting health conditions, reinfections, new acute concerns, and complications of prolonged illness, hospitalization, or isolation. Many presenting symptoms of long COVID are commonly seen in a primary care practice, and management can be improved by using established treatment paradigms and supportive care. Although several medications have been suggested for the treatment of fatigue related to long COVID, the evidence for their use is currently lacking. Holistic treatment strategies for long COVID include discussion of pacing and energy conservation;individualized, symptom-guided, phased return to activity programs;maintaining adequate hydration and a healthy diet;and treatment of underlying medical conditions.Copyright © 2022 American Academy of Family Physicians.

The Healthy Communities Initiative: Gathering Community Input During COVID-19

The Louisiana Healthy Communities Initiative, led by the LSU AgCenter, guides SNAP-Ed policy, systems, and environmental change efforts. Prior to COVID19, agents held in-person community forums to gather input and community priorities for interventions. COVID19 spurred innovation in this process. Although many states have used videoconferencing services to host meetings, lack of functional internet access posed a barrier for many communities in Louisiana.To gather broad community input through Qualtrics surveys in order to assess needs and assets, guide project prioritization, and gather feedback on previous projects.Qualtrics surveys were distributed via email to community members, stakeholders, and partners serving low-income audiences. Three surveys solicited feedback for existing Healthy Communities coalitions (n = 45), 1 survey gathered initial input for a newly formed Healthy Communities coalition (n = 63). The overall response rate across all surveys was 23.6%.Survey responses to community health and engagement questions were separated by counties and analyzed through qualitative content analysis. The research team worked with Extension agents to conduct member checking through discussing survey results with participants.One hundred and eight responses were received from 4 communities. Extension agents reported high satisfaction with the process. Surveys provided action items and potential new coalition members. Across all 4 communities, common themes included acknowledging racial health disparities, a need for greater community involvement in coalition efforts, and a lack of healthy food options.Qualtrics surveys were an effective way to gather community input and allowed wider participation than would have been possible with a virtual meeting. Post-COVID, agents plan to continue to solicit community input through Qualtrics surveys, in addition to face-to-face forums. This method is a valuable tool for lower-income and rural communities. Results reflected an awareness of low community engagement, racial health disparities and limited healthy food access.

Understanding How the COVID-19 Pandemic Influenced Older Adults’ Grocery Shopping Habits

The ability to grocery shop is an important aspect of maintaining adequate nutritional status among older adults. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many older adults changed their typical grocery shopping habits attempting to remain safe.To understand how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced older adults’ grocery shopping habits.In this qualitative study, a total of 23 older adults aged 60 years or older participated in individual interviews via Zoom.Data were analyzed using directed content analysis.Attempting to be cautious, most participants reported altering grocery shopping habits by shopping less frequently, using online services such as grocery pickup or delivery, or having friends or family members do the shopping. However, some participants continued shopping in stores due to poor quality produce items picked out by shoppers and safe policies implemented by stores. Also, grocery shopping in stores became incentivized as some participants viewed it as a form of entertainment, social interaction, and even physical activity during the pandemic. Although many stores offered senior shopping hours, the majority of study participants reported not using these services due to inconvenient times. Purchasing larger quantities of items and selecting more shelf stable, canned, and frozen items were also reported.Providing older adults with training and education on using online grocery shopping services may help this population have safe and simple access to healthy food items. In addition, training grocery store workers to pick out good quality produce may encourage more older adults to use these online services. Modifications to grocery store-instated senior hours should consider more convenient times to best support older adults. Because the grocery store emerged as an enjoyable place, it is especially crucial that grocery stores continue to enforce the policies that allow older adults to feel safe purchasing their groceries.

Meeting the Shopper Online: Adapting Food Retail Programming During COVID-19

To determine the effectiveness of adapting healthy food retail components for online delivery.Small food retail stores that accept SNAP/EBT are important food sources for low-income Americans, especially in areas where traditional grocery stores are difficult to access. SNAP-Ed recognizes healthy food retail interventions as an approach to encourage healthy eating and support direct nutrition education.Small food retail stores that accept SNAP/EBT in low-income census tracts were targeted.Shop Smart Tennessee is an 8-week small food retail program that uses taste testing, educational handouts, and in-store marketing to encourage healthy customer selections. In response to COVID-19, in-store program components were modified for the pilot to be delivered on social media. Food demonstration videos were developed to replace taste testings, and educational handouts were translated to social media posts. Educators posted videos and educational content to the partnering store's Facebook page or tagged the store in posts.To assess the effectiveness of online delivery methods we used participant surveys linked to food demonstration video posts, social media metrics, and nutrition educator feedback.Five stores participated in this pilot. Thirty-seven videos were posted to Facebook with 4,320 views and 863 engagements. Forty-three people completed online participant surveys, with 89% (n = 38) responding they would likely make the recipe at home. Nutrition educator feedback suggested store managers were supportive of online delivery and that it was an acceptable alternative to in-store programming.This pilot demonstrated that components of food retail programming can be adapted for social media. This method was well received by participants, store managers and nutrition educators. It allowed us to reach store customers from a different angle and can be used to inform future food retail work involving social media. Upcoming projects should focus on assessing impact of social media content delivery coupled with in-store engagement efforts.

Examining Sedentary and Activity Status Predictors in Adolescents and Their Implications for Diabetes Prevention

Background. Physical activity (PA) has been conclusively shown to reduce the incidence of diabetes in prior research. A 2,000 steps/day increment yielded hazard ratio (HR) 0.88 for incidence of diabetes 95% CI 0.78-1.00;p = 0.046 (Garduno, 2022). Despite this, the role of different factors associated with higher adolescent after-school PA is understudied after the coronavirus pandemic, during which a greater proportion of parents worked remotely. This study aimed to evaluate statistically significant factors that are associated with higher adolescent PA versus sedentary behavior with the goal of identifying effective diabetes prevention interventions. Method(s): Study participants from Florida, U.S., aged 13-19 were enrolled and categorized into three groups based on the number of days of after-school exercise completed each week: 0 days of after-school exercise (No PA, n=214), 1-4 days of after-school exercise (moderate PA, n=245), and 5-7 days of after-school exercise (high PA, n=252). The statistical significance of the study factors associated with each PA group was assessed using two-tailed t-tests with a 95% confidence level. Result(s): The participants' mean age was 15.6+/-1.2 years. Among participants with high PA, moderate PA, and no PA, 19.4%, 26.4%, and 30.9% were affected by overweight or obesity respectively (p<0.05). PA was influenced by gender (81.7% of males had high PA, versus 59.5% of females, p<0.01). The incidence of high PA levels was greater among those participants whose parents were married (77.7% vs 58,8%, p<0.05) or those who were the oldest children in the family (85.1% vs 58.1%, p<0.05). In terms of modifiable factors, possibly due to a role-modeling parenting effect, high PA levels were more among participants who exercised together with parents (94.2% vs 49.1%, p<0.01), and if one of the parents had a healthy diet (74.1% vs 55.9%, p<0.05). High PA levels were also more prevalent in adolescents who read nutrition labels (86.6% vs 54.6%, p<0.01), who were concerned about protein content in food choices (90.5% vs 56.1%, p<0.05), who considered fiber (95.8% vs 64.4%, p<0.05), sugar (85.1% vs 62.8%, p<0.05), or whole food content (80.1% vs 65.8%, p<0.05). Conclusion(s): A deeper understanding of the factors associated with physical activity can help design more effective interventions. Study findings provide insight into environmental and behavioral factors associated with physical activity and provide the rationale for family-level interventions aimed at improving modifiable variables that will assist in the reduction of diabetes burden.

Changes in modifiable life style factors in women with an increased hereditary risk for breast and ovarian cancer during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Germany: A cross-sectional web-based survey

Background: Pathogenic mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 are associated with high risks of breast (BC) and ovarian cancer (OC). Modifiable life style factors are important in explaining some of the variation in cancer risks in both, OC and BC. Crucial steps to prevent malignant disease are increased physical activity, avoidance of smoking, limitation of the intake of red meat or alcohol. Method(s): To assess possible changes in life style, a web-based survey was placed on internet platforms of patients' support groups between 29th January and 22th April 2021. Missing data were composed of those patients who did not answer the question or who did not have a clear opinion regarding the topic. Data are presented as frequencies of selected items. Group differences were calculated by chi2-test. Result(s): During the pandemic, 10.5% of respondents consumed significantly more or more alcohol, while 31.6% consumed less or significantly less alcohol than before the pandemic. With respect to abuse of nicotine, 11.8% consumed more and 17.6% consumed less than before the pandemic. 16.2% engaged in significantly more or more physical activity, whereas 47.1% engaged in less or significantly less physical activity, respectively. 8.7% stated that they maintained a healthy body weight, while 17.4% did not. A healthy diet was strictly observed or observed by 13.9% of respondents, while 23.6% observed a healthy diet less or significantly less than before the pandemic. Discussion(s): The exact impact of life style changes during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on cancer (recurrence) risk, as well as on subsequent survival, is still unknown, but it has the potential to lead to important public health implications in the coming years. Conclusion(s): Thus, especially during challenging periods of life, women at high risk for cancer occurrence or recurrence should be reassured that observing a healthy lifestyle (healthy diet, control of obesity, decreased smoking etc.) is an excellent option for cancer prevention and increased survival.

Webinar - Is the World Experiencing Dual Pandemics: COVID and Mental Health? Let's talk Positive

Background: In partnership with the Poornima University, the Jodhpur School of Public Health conducted a participatory and live webinar on "Is the world experiencing dual pandemics-COVID and Mental Health? Let's talk positive." On 15th May 2021. Dr. Naresh Nebhinani Additional Professor, Department of Psychiatry AIIMS Jodhpur was the distinguished speaker, who along with Poornima University co-founder Mr. Rahul Singhi and other panellists from Jodhpur School of Public health addressed the topic. Finding(s): The COVID-19 pandemic and the shattering economy have resulted in a detrimental impact on many people's mental health around the globe. It has created new barriers among children, health workers, and elderly along with those who already suffer from mental illness. Every third person who was infected by COVID has shown some signs of mental health issues in one form or the other and prevalence of such disorders have increased by 35% in COVID. The role of behavioural changes towards mental health issues, along with positive attitude, better coping mechanisms, positive lifestyle changes including healthy living, sobriety, healthy eating, regular physical exercise, relaxation, spiritual practice, connectedness with family and close associates, balanced use of gadgets, proper sleep etc result in better outcomes and indicators of mental health resulting due to COVID 19 impacts could be controlled. Conclusion(s): While the health-care system fights to rescue millions of lives on a daily basis, there is a significant risk of a looming pandemic of hidden mental health conditions that might devastate the present mental-health infrastructure. We need inter-disciplinary support of various sectors to execute the plan for people's participation to talk about mental health issues. With specialized psychological interventions and multi-stakeholder collaboration, we can easily curb mental health issues and have a positive outlook in life thereby establishing a balance despite external situations. Copyright © 2023, Institute of Medico-legal Publication. All rights reserved.

EATING BEHAVIORS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: THE IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY CONTEXT

A healthy and balanced diet has been identified as a primary factor for good health across the entire lifespan. Early in 2020, the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread very quickly worldwide and was classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a pandemic. Preliminary reports indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased unhealthy eating patterns, especially in at-risk populations and in children and adolescents (e.g., increased snack intake). The evolution of the pandemic and, consequently, the tightening of social restrictions (e.g., social distancing, isolation, mandatory lockdowns) led families to spend more time together in close quarters. Accordingly, the routine of families eating meals together increased, allowing for more opportunities to instill parental food practices. Furthermore, as a consequence of this health crisis, food insecurity may have increased, impacting parental feeding practices and family food consumption. Overall, current findings within the family context indicate potential impacts on child and adult obesity risk, indicating several modifiable points of intervention in this context. For this reason, exploring the recent data and the impact of COVID- 19 on children and adolescents' eating behaviors is crucial to deepen our understanding of the phenomenon. Analysis of current literature findings is expected to prompt reflection on the role of the family and generate discussion and suggestions for best practices to follow in future crises. Additionally, this analysis is expected to elicit thinking on future policy guidelines. Hopefully, the discussion on prior findings will provide: i) a deepened foresight into the impact of the current pandemic on eating behaviors in children and adolescents, and ii) support to practitioners, researchers, and policymakers efforts in mitigating long-term negative consequences through educational tools aimed to promote healthy eating in the younger population, with particular emphasis on the family context. © 2022 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

COVID-19 Changes Public Awareness about Food Sustainability and Dietary Patterns: A Google Trends Analysis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only affected healthcare systems and global economies but also directly impacted food security and purchasing behaviors. The aim of this study is to investigate if COVID-19 has induced changes in public interest regarding Food Sustainability and healthy-sustainable dietary patterns across Europe and in European regions. A Google Trends search was performed using the search terms "Food Sustainability + Sustainable Diet + Sustainable Food" (grouped as "Food Sustainability") and the topics "Sustainability", "Healthy Diet", "Mediterranean Diet", and "Flexitarianism" for the years 2010 to 2022. Data were obtained for 12 countries in Europe. The trends in interest after the COVID-19 outbreak were forecast based on previous data. After the COVID-19 outbreak, an increase in Food Sustainability interest was observed and was higher than forecast based on the previous data. A significant interest increase in Sustainability was observed; nevertheless, this increase was smaller than the forecast increase. Mixed results were obtained for dietary patterns across European regions, yet, considering the mean interest for Europe, it seems that the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak dampened the interest in dietary patterns such as the Healthy Diet and Flexitarianism and promoted an interest in the Mediterranean Diet. Understanding consumers' beliefs and behaviors toward food choices is crucial for the transition towards sustainable diets, and definitions of educational and behavioral interventions are essential to this transition.