Alimentacion y actividad fisica durante el confinamiento por Covid-19 en estudiantes de la Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe, Argentina / Diet and physical activity during covid-19 lockdown in students at Universidad Nacional del Litoral, in Santa Fe, Argentina

Introducción: La influencia que la vida académica ejerce sobre los estilos de vida en estudiantes universitarios es un hecho reconocido. Como estrategia adoptada para evitar la propagación masiva del virus SARS-CoV-2, el gobierno argentino decretó en 2020 medidas de aislamiento y distanciamiento social que derivaron en el cese de la presencialidad de los estudiantes en las universidades; por ello, esta situación particular representó un escenario desconocido. Objetivos: Evaluar cambios en los hábitos alimentarios y de actividad física (AF), en el contexto del confinamiento por COVID19, en estudiantes de la Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Materiales y Métodos: Se realizó un estudio transversal, observacional y descriptivo, durante junio a agosto de 2020. Se utilizó un cuestionario online para indagar datos demográficos, alimentación y AF, desarrollado ad hoc y validado por expertos (confiabilidad: alfa de Cronbach=0,85) y prueba piloto. La muestra poblacional (no probabilística) incluyó 1259 estudiantes, de 22 ± 3 años, con predominio femenino (78%). Resultados: El 63% vivía en el mismo lugar que durante la presencialidad y el 96% acompañado. Un 63% percibió que las medidas de confinamiento modificaron su relación con la alimentación, mayormente por cuestiones emocionales (71%). El 81% aumentó el consumo de comidas caseras y el 26% utilizó delivery con mayor frecuencia. Un 49% calificó su alimentación como medianamente saludable; la mayoría (71%) realizó las cuatro comidas principales y, entre quienes omitieron al menos una (29%), los principales motivos fueron no tener hambre (38%) y levantarse tarde (34%). Entre quienes bebían alcohol, el 56% consumió menos. El 62% disminuyó la actividad física y el 20% la mantuvo. Conclusiones: El confinamiento social impactó negativamente disminuyendo la actividad física, mientras que la alimentación resultó modificada tanto por aspectos negativos como por otros positivos. Esta información resulta valiosa para plasmar intervenciones destinadas a mantener estilos de vida saludables en esta población universitaria

Introduction: The influence that academic life exerts on lifestyle of university students is a recognized fact. As a strategy adopted to prevent the massive spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the Argentinian government decreed isolation and social distancing measures in 2020 that led to the cessation of attendance by students at universities; therefore, this particular situation represented an unknown scenario. Objectives: To evaluate changes in habits eating and physical activity (PA), in the context of confinement by COVID-19, in students of the Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, observational and descriptive study was carried out from June to August 2020. An online questionnaire was used to investigate demographic data, diet and PA, developed ad hoc and validated by experts (reliability: Cronbach's alpha=0.85) and pilot test. The population sample (non-probabilistic method) included 1259 students, 22 ±3 years old, predominantly female (78%). Results: 63% lived in the same place as during the attendance and 96% were accompanied. Moreover, 63% perceived that confinement measures modified their relationship with food, mostly for emotional reasons (71%). On the other hand, 81% increased their consumption of homemade meals and 26% used delivery more frequently. 49% of the students described their diet as moderately healthy; the majority (71%) ate all four main meals, and among those who skipped at least one (29%), the main reasons were not being hungry (38%) and getting up late (34%). Among those who drank alcohol, 56% consumed less.In other matters, 62% decreased physical activity and 20% maintained it. Conclusions: Social confinement had a negative impact by decreasing physical activity, while diet was modified by both negative and positive aspects. This information is valuable to capture interventions aimed at maintaining healthy lifestyles in this university population

Maternal sucrose-rich diet and fetal programming: changes in hepatic lipogenic and oxidative enzymes and glucose homeostasis in adult offspring.

Nutritional insults during pregnancy and lactation (P + L) are often associated with offspring health risks. We investigated the effect of maternal exposure to a sucrose-rich diet (SRD) during P + L on glucose and lipid metabolism of adult offspring regardless of post-weaning diet. Dams were fed an SRD or a control diet (CD) during P + L. After weaning, male offspring from SRD and CD dams were divided into two groups and fed a CD or SRD until 150 days old forming CD-CD, CD-SRD, SRD-SRD and SRD-CD groups. Offspring where SRD was fed at any period of life showed: (1) increased adipose tissue weight without changes in the final body weight; (2) dyslipidemia as a result of increased very low density lipoprotein triglyceride secretion rate and decreased triglyceride clearance; (3) hepatic steatosis associated with increased activity of key enzymes involved in liver de novo lipogenesis and significant decrease of the activity of mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation enzyme. These results were more pronounced in CD-SRD and SRD-SRD groups. (4) Hyperglycemia without changes in insulin levels, plus a deterioration of intravenous glucose tolerance and intraperitoneal insulin tolerance test. We hypothesized that SRD during P + L could be associated with a programming effect on glucose homeostasis and hepatic lipid metabolism that predispose offspring to develop later-life insulin resistance and metabolic disorders, regardless of post-natal diet.