ASSESSMENT OF IMPORTANCE OF FOOD AND NUTRITION DURING COVID-19 OUTBREAK- A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY Authors: Agrawal B , KAUR N, BHALLA M, SHARMA V AND GUPTA R
ABSTRACT
Background: COVID-19 (also commonly called coronavirus) pandemic is causing a lot of
changes in the daily lives of people around the world. However, good nutrition is very important
before, during and after an infection. Optimal nutrition and dietary nutrient intake impact the
immune system, therefore the only sustainable way to survive is to maintain a healthy diet to
strengthen the immune system. Main aim of study was to assess the importance of food, nutrition
and social distancing among the subjects.
Methods: A cross- sectional, online based survey was conducted on voluntary participants.
Distribution of self structured questionnaire was done through snowball sampling technique. Chi
square test was used to analyze the data.
Results: The survey results showed that out of 402 subjects, 79.6% (p<0.001) subjects were
eating citrus food for strengthening the immune system. About 94% (p<0.001) subjects were
taking fresh foods and 95.5% (p<0.001) subjects were washing hands before every meal. About
75.6% (p<0.001) subjects were following social distancing protocol.
Conclusion: The present study showed that subjects were aware about importance of food and
nutrition during COVID-19 outbreak and they also agreed that good nutrition and social
distancing while eating food were the best protection for them and others against COVID-19.
Keywords: COVID-19, Food, Nutrition
Publication date: 01/02/2022 https://ijbpas.com/pdf/2022/February/MS_IJBPAS_2022_5862.pdfDownload PDFhttps://doi.org/10.31032/IJBPAS/2022/11.2.5862