Dietary patterns and dietary recommendations achievement from Latin American college students during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown

Murillo, A. G. et al. (2022) Dietary patterns and dietary recommendations achievement from Latin American college students during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 6, 836299. (doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2022.836299)

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Abstract

This study aimed to compare the diet quality of different dietary patterns among college students from Latin American countries, including vegetarians, vegans, and omnivores during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional, observational, multicenter study was conducted including a non- probabilistic sample of university students from 10 countries. University students were invited to participate in the study through social network platforms. Participants were self-reported to have followed a specific dietary pattern; either the Prudent diet, Western diet, Ovo-dairy-vegetarian diet, Fish-vegetarian diet, Strict vegetarian diet (vegan) or other. The last three patterns (vegetarians and vegans) were grouped as following a plant-based diet. A self-assessment survey was used to evaluate healthy eating habits using a questionnaire with values between 1 (do not consume) and 5 (consume) for a total of 9–45 points (higher values represent better eating habits). Unhealthy habits were assessed with nine questions. A total of 4,809 students filled out the questionnaire, and the majority of them were females (73.7%). A high percentage have been in lockdown for more than 5 months and were in lockdown when the survey was released. 74.3% were self-reported to follow a prudent diet, while 11.4% reported following a western dietary pattern and 8.8% a plant-based diet. When compliance with healthy and unhealthy dietary habits was analyzed, although all groups had low compliance, the plant-based diet group (56.09 ± 6.11) performed better than the Western diet group (48.03 ± 5.99). The total diet quality score was significantly higher for plant-based diet followers, who also tended to better achieve the recommendations than omnivorous students, especially the ones following a western diet. These results present evidence that young adults such as college-aged students have unhealthy dietary habits. However, the ones who follow a plant-based diet such as vegetarians and vegans exhibit better scores and healthier dietary conducts.

Item Type:Articles
Keywords:Dietary patterns, vegetarians, vegans, omnivorous, COVID lockdown.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Parra, Solange
Authors: Murillo, A. G., Gómez, G., Durán-Agüero, S., Parra-Soto, S. L., Araneda, J., Morales, G., Ríos-Castillo, I., Carpio-Arias, V., Cavagnari, B. M., Nava-González, E. J., Bejarano-Roncancio, J. J., Núñez-Martínez, B., Cordón-Arrivillaga, K., Meza-Miranda, E. R., Mauricio-Alza, S., and Landaeta-Díaz, L.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Health
Journal Name:Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
Publisher:Frontiers Media
ISSN:2571-581X
ISSN (Online):2571-581X
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2022 Murillo, Gómez, Durán-Agüero, Parra-Soto, Araneda, Morales, Ríos-Castillo, Carpio-Arias, Cavagnari, Nava-González, Bejarano-Roncancio, Núñez-Martínez, Cordón-Arrivillaga, Meza-Miranda, Mauricio-Alza and Landaeta-Díaz
First Published:First published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 6: 836299
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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