Bahatheg Raja Omar
King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Early Child Educ J. 2021;49(5):915-923. doi: 10.1007/s10643-021-01192-3. Epub 2021 Apr 28.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, most countries took precautionary steps to save their citizens by initiating a lockdown and stopping all social activities by closing schools, companies, entertainment places, markets, gardens, and other social gathering places. As children stayed at home with no physical activities, their weight may have increased. The purpose of this study was to examine the link between fast food, sugars, or soft drinks and the ongoing domestic lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic. This phenomenon was studied in three different cities from three different countries (Saudi Arabia, Britain, and Turkey) from the perspective of children's parents. The study sought to address three research questions regarding children's well-being during the COVID-19 lockdown period. First, was children's nutrition affected during this period? Second, did children's weight increase? Third, were there any statistically significant differences in children's dietary patterns based on their gender and nationality? A questionnaire was administered to 330 parents of children aged four to seven years in the three targeted countries. The study found that most parents cared about their children's nutrition and prepared food at home (96.1%) during the lockdown. Sixty-three percent of parents indicated that children did not gain weight. Additionally, differences in children's nutritional systems were found between Saudi and Turkish children; the nutritional system of the Turkish children was better than that of Saudi children during the lockdown. Additionally, there were statistically significant differences in children's nutrition due to gender, with better nutrition for boys than for girls.
在新冠疫情期间，大多数国家采取了预防措施来拯救本国公民，通过实施封锁并关闭学校、公司、娱乐场所、市场、花园及其他社交聚会场所来停止所有社交活动。由于孩子们待在家里没有体育活动，他们的体重可能增加了。本研究的目的是检验快餐、糖类或软饮料与新冠疫情期间持续的国内封锁之间的联系。从儿童家长的角度，在来自三个不同国家（沙特阿拉伯、英国和土耳其）的三个不同城市对这一现象进行了研究。该研究试图解决关于新冠疫情封锁期间儿童福祉的三个研究问题。第一，在此期间儿童的营养受到影响了吗？第二，儿童体重增加了吗？第三，基于儿童的性别和国籍，他们的饮食模式是否存在统计学上的显著差异？对三个目标国家中330名4至7岁儿童的家长进行了问卷调查。研究发现，大多数家长关心孩子的营养，并在封锁期间在家准备食物（96.1%）。63%的家长表示孩子体重没有增加。此外，沙特和土耳其儿童之间在儿童营养系统方面存在差异；在封锁期间，土耳其儿童的营养系统比沙特儿童的更好。此外，由于性别不同，儿童的营养状况存在统计学上的显著差异，男孩的营养状况优于女孩。
