TY - JOUR
T1 - Covid-19 stress and food intake
T2 - Protective and risk factors for stress-related palatable food intake in U.S. adults
AU - Sadler, Jennifer R.
AU - Thapaliya, Gita
AU - Jansen, Elena
AU - Aghababian, Anahys H.
AU - Smith, Kimberly R.
AU - Carnell, Susan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Li-censee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/3
Y1 - 2021/3
N2 - (1) Background: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused disruptions to what people eat, but the pandemic’s impact on diet varies between individuals. The goal of our study was to test whether pandemic-related stress was associated with food intake, and whether relationships between stress and intake were modified by appetitive and cognitive traits. (2) Methods: We cross-sectionally surveyed 428 adults to examine current intake frequency of various food types (sweets/desserts, savory snacks, fast food, fruits, and vegetables), changes to food intake during the pandemic, emotional overeating (EOE), cognitive flexibility (CF), and COVID-19-related stress. Models tested associations of stress, EOE, and CF with food intake frequency and changes to intake. (3) Results: Models demonstrated that the positive relationship between stress and intake of sweets/desserts was stronger with higher EOE, while the positive relationship between stress and intake of chips/savory snacks was weaker with higher CF. Higher EOE was associated with greater risk of increased intake of palatable foods. (4) Conclusions: Findings suggest that emotional overeating may escalate stress-associated intake of high-sugar foods, and cognitive flexibility may at-tenuate stress-associated intake of high-fat foods. Differences in appetitive and cognitive traits may explain changes to and variability in food intake during COVID-19, and efforts to decrease emotional overeating and encourage cognitive flexibility could help lessen the effect of COVID-19-re-lated stress on energy dense food intake.
AB - (1) Background: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused disruptions to what people eat, but the pandemic’s impact on diet varies between individuals. The goal of our study was to test whether pandemic-related stress was associated with food intake, and whether relationships between stress and intake were modified by appetitive and cognitive traits. (2) Methods: We cross-sectionally surveyed 428 adults to examine current intake frequency of various food types (sweets/desserts, savory snacks, fast food, fruits, and vegetables), changes to food intake during the pandemic, emotional overeating (EOE), cognitive flexibility (CF), and COVID-19-related stress. Models tested associations of stress, EOE, and CF with food intake frequency and changes to intake. (3) Results: Models demonstrated that the positive relationship between stress and intake of sweets/desserts was stronger with higher EOE, while the positive relationship between stress and intake of chips/savory snacks was weaker with higher CF. Higher EOE was associated with greater risk of increased intake of palatable foods. (4) Conclusions: Findings suggest that emotional overeating may escalate stress-associated intake of high-sugar foods, and cognitive flexibility may at-tenuate stress-associated intake of high-fat foods. Differences in appetitive and cognitive traits may explain changes to and variability in food intake during COVID-19, and efforts to decrease emotional overeating and encourage cognitive flexibility could help lessen the effect of COVID-19-re-lated stress on energy dense food intake.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Cognitive flexibility
KW - Emotional overeating
KW - Food intake
KW - Stress
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U2 - 10.3390/nu13030901
DO - 10.3390/nu13030901
M3 - Article
C2 - 33802066
AN - SCOPUS:85102657531
SN - 2072-6643
VL - 13
SP - 1
EP - 21
JO - Nutrients
JF - Nutrients
IS - 3
M1 - 901
ER -