Parthasarathy Nivedhitha, Ranjit Nalini, Chuang Ru-Jye, Markham Christine, Pomeroy Mike, Noyola Jacqueline, Ernest Deepali K, Sharma Shreela V
Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, Houston, TX, United States.
Michael and Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health in Austin, Austin, TX, United States.
Front Nutr. 2024 Sep 25;11:1468767. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1468767. eCollection 2024.
Several studies suggest that during the early pandemic, amidst socioeconomic instability, children from underserved families were more likely to resort to consuming cheaper, lower-quality foods with longer shelf lives. This study investigated the change in unhealthy food consumption across different phases (pre, early, mid) of the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether the strength of association between unhealthy food consumption and household socioeconomic disadvantage (HSED) varied across phases of the pandemic.
This study utilized serial cross-sectional data collected from low-income families enrolled in a school-based food co-op, Brighter Bites. Secondary data analysis included 5,384 surveys from families who had complete data: 3422 pre-pandemic, 944 from the early pandemic, and 1,018 mid-pandemic. Outcome measures included sugary food intake and convenience/fast food intake, each of which was operationalized as a scale using pre-validated items from the surveys. HSED was operationalized as a composite of parent employment, parent education, food insecurity, and participation in government programs; responses were categorized into low, medium, and high HSED groups for analysis. We examined the interaction between HSED and time period to explore how HSED and its association with dietary measures changed over the course of the pandemic.
A significant linear negative trend, i.e., a decrease in consumption from pre-to-mid-pandemic period was seen in sugary food intake ( < 0.001), but not in convenience food intake. In data pooled across time-periods, both sugary food and convenience/fast food consumption were inversely associated with HSED, and low unhealthy food consumption was observed among high-disadvantage groups. No significant interaction between time period and HSED was observed on either scale. However, the post-regression estimates from the adjusted interaction model showed a significant association between convenience/fast food consumption and HSED in pre- and mid-pandemic periods.
The study highlights the nuances of socioeconomic dynamics on the diet behaviors of children from low-income families during a natural disaster.
多项研究表明，在疫情初期，社会经济不稳定的情况下，来自服务不足家庭的儿童更有可能选择食用保质期更长、价格更便宜、质量更低的食品。本研究调查了新冠疫情不同阶段（前期、初期、中期）不健康食品消费的变化，以及不健康食品消费与家庭社会经济劣势（HSED）之间的关联强度在疫情各阶段是否有所不同。
本研究利用了从参与校内食品合作社“光明饮食”的低收入家庭收集的系列横断面数据。二次数据分析包括来自拥有完整数据家庭的5384份调查问卷：疫情前3422份，疫情初期944份，疫情中期1018份。结果指标包括含糖食品摄入量和方便/快餐摄入量，每项指标均使用调查问卷中预先验证的项目作为量表进行操作化。HSED被操作化为父母就业、父母教育、粮食不安全和参与政府项目的综合指标；将回答分为低、中、高HSED组进行分析。我们研究了HSED与时间段之间的相互作用，以探讨HSED及其与饮食指标的关联在疫情期间是如何变化的。
含糖食品摄入量呈现出显著的线性负趋势，即从疫情前到中期摄入量减少（<0.001），但方便食品摄入量没有。在跨时间段汇总的数据中，含糖食品和方便/快餐消费均与HSED呈负相关，高劣势群体的不健康食品消费量较低。在任何一个量表上均未观察到时间段与HSED之间的显著相互作用。然而，调整后的相互作用模型的回归后估计显示，在疫情前和中期，方便/快餐消费与HSED之间存在显著关联。
该研究突出了自然灾害期间社会经济动态对低收入家庭儿童饮食行为的细微影响。
