Evidence Hub

Diet and physical activity during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown (March–May 2020): results from the French NutriNet-Santé cohort study

M. Deschasaux-Tanguy, N. Druesne-Pecollo, Y. Esseddik, F. S. de Edelenyi, B. Allès, V. Andreeva, J. Baudry, H. Charreire et al.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2021

37,252 participants · 303 citations

Abstract

Background Since December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been spreading steadily, resulting in overwhelmed health-care systems and numerous deaths worldwide. To counter these outcomes, many countries, including France, put in place strict lockdown measures, requiring the temporary closure of all but essential places and causing an unprecedented disruption of daily life. Objectives Our objective was to explore potential changes in dietary intake, physical activity, body weight, and food supply during the COVID-19 lockdown and how these differed according to individual characteristics. Methods The analyses included 37,252 adults from the French web-based NutriNet-Santé cohort who completed lockdown-specific questionnaires in April–May 2020. Nutrition-related changes and their sociodemographic, lifestyle, and health-status correlates were investigated using multivariable logistic regression models. Clusters of participants were defined using an ascending hierarchical classification of change profiles derived from multiple correspondence analyses. Results During the lockdown, trends of unfavorable changes were observed: decreased physical activity (reported by 53% of the participants), increased sedentary time (reported by 63%), increased snacking, decreased consumption of fresh food (especially fruit and fish), and increased consumption of sweets, cookies, and cakes. Yet, the opposite trends were also observed: increased home cooking (reported by 40%) and…

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a cohort study, done in people. Its evidence level is 3 of 5 (Moderate · trial / cohort / secondary analysis). Trials without a large randomized design, cohorts and secondary analyses give moderate evidence. Reported size: 37,252 participants or records.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

Read the paper

Related studies

Go deeper in Evidence Hub

Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.

Open this study Sign up free