School of Psychology. University of Salford, UK; Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
Appetite. 2022 Feb 1;169:105835. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105835. Epub 2021 Dec 4.
Food insecurity (a lack of stable access to nutritious food) is reliably associated with higher BMI, although the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Past research indicates that this relationship may, in part, be explained by the distress of being food insecure and using food as a coping mechanism. While previous work has focused on long-term food insecurity, the first COVID-19 national lockdown presented a unique opportunity to establish if the same relationships existed for individuals experiencing pandemic related food insecurity. Adults in the United Kingdom (N = 211) were recruited three months after the first UK lockdown via social media. They completed questionnaires on COVID-19 related food insecurity, physical stress, psychological distress, eating to cope, drinking to cope, diet quality, and changes in weight promoting eating behaviours (e.g. consuming larger portions, increased snacking) since the start of the lockdown. A structural equation model revealed that food insecurity was indirectly associated with changes in weight promoting eating behaviours. As predicted, the more instances of pandemic related food insecurity, the more distress individuals reported. Distress was then associated with eating as a way of coping, which in turn was associated with increases in weight promoting eating behaviours. Food insecurity was also indirectly associated with diet quality, but this was via distress only. These results reflect similar pathways observed in individuals reporting chronic food insecurity and strengthens the evidence that distress and eating to cope are generic mediators of food insecurity and eating behaviour.
食物不安全（稳定获得营养食物的机会不足）与更高的 BMI 可靠相关，尽管其潜在机制尚不清楚。过去的研究表明，这种关系可能部分可以用食物不安全的困扰以及将食物作为应对机制来解释。虽然之前的工作集中在长期食物不安全上，但第一次 COVID-19 全国封锁为确定经历与大流行相关的食物不安全的个体是否存在相同的关系提供了一个独特的机会。通过社交媒体在第一次英国封锁三个月后招募了英国的成年人（N=211）。他们完成了有关 COVID-19 相关食物不安全、身体压力、心理困扰、用食物应对、用酒精应对、饮食质量以及自封锁开始以来促进体重增加的饮食行为（例如，食用更大份量、增加零食）的变化的问卷调查。结构方程模型显示，食物不安全与促进体重增加的饮食行为变化之间存在间接关联。正如预期的那样，与大流行相关的食物不安全的情况越多，报告的困扰就越多。困扰与应对方式有关，而应对方式又与促进体重增加的饮食行为有关。食物不安全也与饮食质量间接相关，但这仅通过困扰来实现。这些结果反映了在报告慢性食物不安全的个体中观察到的类似途径，并加强了困扰和应对食物的饮食行为是食物不安全和饮食行为的通用中介的证据。
