School of Computer and Communication Sciences, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Population Health Laboratory (#PopHealthLab), University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Nat Commun. 2022 Feb 28;13(1):1073. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-28498-z.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus has altered people's lives around the world. Here we document population-wide shifts in dietary interests in 18 countries in 2020, as revealed through time series of Google search volumes. We find that during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic there was an overall surge in food interest, larger and longer-lasting than the surge during typical end-of-year holidays in Western countries. The shock of decreased mobility manifested as a drastic increase in interest in consuming food at home and a corresponding decrease in consuming food outside of home. The largest (up to threefold) increases occurred for calorie-dense carbohydrate-based foods such as pastries, bakery products, bread, and pies. The observed shifts in dietary interests have the potential to globally affect food consumption and health outcomes. These findings can inform governmental and organizational decisions regarding measures to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on diet and nutrition.
SARS-CoV-2 病毒改变了全球人们的生活。在这里，我们通过谷歌搜索量的时间序列记录了 2020 年 18 个国家的饮食兴趣的普遍变化。我们发现，在 COVID-19 大流行的第一波期间，人们对食物的兴趣整体上出现了大幅增长，其规模和持续时间都超过了西方国家典型的年底假期期间的增长。活动范围受限带来的冲击表现为对在家就餐的兴趣急剧增加，而外出就餐的兴趣相应减少。对高热量碳水化合物类食物（如糕点、烘焙食品、面包和馅饼）的兴趣增加幅度最大（高达三倍）。饮食兴趣的这种变化有可能会在全球范围内影响食物消费和健康结果。这些发现可以为政府和组织提供信息，帮助他们做出决策，以减轻 COVID-19 大流行对饮食和营养的影响。
