One in five parents surveyed in a European study reported that their children started consuming more savory and sweet snacks during the pandemic, despite eating more fruit (10.3%), vegetables (7%) and dairy products ( 10.8%).
The World Health Organization (WHO) study “The impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the daily routine and behaviors of school-age children in Europe: results from 17 Member States”, presented today in Lisbon, brought together data from almost 55 thousand families and children, the majority of whom are boys (51.8%) and eight-year-olds (54.8%).
Coordinated by the Ricardo Jorge National Health Institute (INSA), the study aimed to understand and understand the impact of the covid-19 pandemic (2020-2022) based on parents’ perception in relation to six dimensions: Food consumption, family behaviors, physical activity and sedentary behaviors, characteristics of the family environment, child nutritional status, mental health and well-being.
The study reveals that food consumption remained unchanged for 70 to 80% of children, but parents’ perception of their children’s nutritional status doubled for being overweight (rising from 8% before the pandemic to 16% during the pandemic period) and the percentage of children perceived as having normal weight dropped from 82 to 73%.
Speaking to the Lusa agency, Ana Rito, INSA researcher who led the study, pointed out as a positive aspect of the pandemic that there was an improvement in several family behaviors, such as “sharing family meals” (29%), “preparing meals in together with the child” (30%) and “buying food in large quantities” (28%), instead of going to the supermarket.
“Although we never associate positive aspects with the pandemic, there were, in fact, one or two aspects that we have to highlight and one of them was the greater time spent with the family (…) which allowed the child to be