Anxiety Symptoms Influence Food Consumption Differently Depending on Nutritional Status During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study with University Students

Abstract

Background

Anxiety symptoms are factors that directly affect eating habits, but this interference can be heterogeneous depending on the nutritional status of the individuals.

Objectives

To analyze whether the presence of anxiety symptoms at the beginning of the pandemic influenced the change in food consumption according to its purpose and extent of processing during a one-year follow-up and whether this association occurs equally with excess weight and without excess weight university students.

Methods

This longitudinal study was carried out with 583 university students from a public Higher Education Institution (HEI) in Brazil. The Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) was used to verify whether anxiety symptoms were associated with changes in food consumption over time.

Results

The results showed that previous moderate/severe anxiety symptoms were associated with an increased frequency of consumption of both fresh or minimally processed foods (β: 0.2 95%CI: 0.1; 0.7 p = 0.013) and ultra-processed foods (β: 5.6 95%CI: 1.8; 17.7 p = 0.003), but with different magnitudes. In university students who were not excess weight, previous moderate/severe anxiety symptoms were associated with a reduction in the frequency of consumption of fresh or minimally processed foods (β: −2.0 95%CI: −3.5; −0.5 p = 0.008), while in those who were excess weight, there was an increase in consumption of ultra-processed foods (β: 4.5 95%CI: 2.2; 6.8 p < 0.001).

Conclusion

This study confirms the influence of anxiety symptoms on food consumption according to the extent and purpose of processing. In addition, these results emphasize the role of psychological distress in the university population, and that this factor can affect excess weight and without excess weight individuals differently.

Keywords:

• Anxiety symptoms
• food consumption
• students
• body weight

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the members and all the participants of the PADu COVID project for their valuable collaboration; the Research and Education Group in Nutrition and Collective Health (GPENSC); the Federal University of Ouro Preto; the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and the Minas Gerais State Research Foundation (FAPEMIG).

Authors contributions

Ana Cláudia Morito Neves – conception and study design; analysis and interpretation of data; writing the manuscript, critical review and final approval.

Luiz Antônio Alves de Menezes-Júnior – analysis and interpretation of data, critical review and final approval.

Raquel de Deus Mendonça - analysis and interpretation of data, critical review and final approval.

Adriana Lúcia Meireles – conception and coordination of data collection, critical review, and final approval.

Júlia Cristina Cardoso Carraro –Analysis and interpretation of data; critical review, supervision, and final approval.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any business or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) [001].