Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-z2ts4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-09T12:47:54.073Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Assessment of eating habits and lifestyle during the coronavirus 2019 pandemic in the Middle East and North Africa region: a cross-sectional study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 November 2020

Leila Cheikh Ismail*
Affiliation:
Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics Department, College of Health Sciences, Research Institute of Medical and Health Sciences (RIMHS), University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates Nuffield Department of Women’s & Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2JD, UK
Tareq M. Osaili
Affiliation:
Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics Department, College of Health Sciences, Research Institute of Medical and Health Sciences (RIMHS), University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates Department of Nutrition and Food Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid 22110, Jordan
Maysm N. Mohamad
Affiliation:
Department of Nutrition and Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain 15551, United Arab Emirates
Amina Al Marzouqi
Affiliation:
Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics Department, College of Health Sciences, Research Institute of Medical and Health Sciences (RIMHS), University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates
Amjad H. Jarrar
Affiliation:
Department of Nutrition and Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain 15551, United Arab Emirates
Antonis Zampelas
Affiliation:
Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, Greece
Carla Habib-Mourad
Affiliation:
Nutrition Department, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon
Dima Omar Abu Jamous
Affiliation:
Research Institute for Medical and Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates
Habiba I. Ali
Affiliation:
Department of Nutrition and Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain 15551, United Arab Emirates
Haleama Al Sabbah
Affiliation:
Department of Health Sciences, College of Natural and Health Sciences, Zayed University, Dubai 19282, United Arab Emirates
Hayder Hasan
Affiliation:
Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics Department, College of Health Sciences, Research Institute of Medical and Health Sciences (RIMHS), University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates
Latifa Mohammed Rashid AlMarzooqi
Affiliation:
Nutrition Department, Ministry of Health and Prevention, Dubai 1853, United Arab Emirates
Lily Stojanovska
Affiliation:
Department of Nutrition and Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain 15551, United Arab Emirates Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University, Melbourne 14428, Australia
Mona Hashim
Affiliation:
Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics Department, College of Health Sciences, Research Institute of Medical and Health Sciences (RIMHS), University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates Nutrition and Dietetics Program, School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia
Reyad R. Shaker Obaid
Affiliation:
Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics Department, College of Health Sciences, Research Institute of Medical and Health Sciences (RIMHS), University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates
Samar ElFeky
Affiliation:
Community-Based Initiatives and Health for Older People, Department of Healthier Population, World Health Organization, Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, Cairo 7608, Egypt
Sheima T. Saleh
Affiliation:
Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics Department, College of Health Sciences, Research Institute of Medical and Health Sciences (RIMHS), University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates
Zahieh A. M. Shawar
Affiliation:
Nutrition Department, Hebron Governmental Hospital, Ministry of Health, Hebron 198, Palestine
Ayesha S. Al Dhaheri
Affiliation:
Department of Nutrition and Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain 15551, United Arab Emirates
*
*Corresponding author: Leila Cheikh Ismail, fax +971 65057515, email lcheikhismail@sharjah.ac.ae
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly spread globally, forcing countries to apply lockdowns and strict social distancing measures. The aim of this study was to assess eating habits and lifestyle behaviours among residents of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region during the lockdown. A cross-sectional study among adult residents of the MENA region was conducted using an online questionnaire designed on Google Forms during April 2020. A total of 2970 participants from eighteen countries participated in the present study. During the pandemic, over 30 % reported weight gain, 6·2 % consumed five or more meals per d compared with 2·2 % before the pandemic (P < 0·001) and 48·8 % did not consume fruits on a daily basis. Moreover, 39·1 % did not engage in physical activity, and over 35 % spent more than 5 h/d on screens. A significant association between the frequency of training during the pandemic and the reported change in weight was found (P < 0·001). A significantly higher percentage of participants reported physical and emotional exhaustion, irritability and tension either all the time or a large part of the time during the pandemic (P < 0·001). Although a high percentage of participants reported sleeping more hours per night during the pandemic, 63 % had sleep disturbances. The study highlights that the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic caused a variety of lifestyle changes, physical inactivity and psychological problems among adults in the MENA region.

Information

Type
Full Papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society
Figure 0

Table 1. Demographic breakdown of surveyed participants (n 2970)(Frequencies and percentages)

Figure 1

Table 2. Sources of health and nutrition information during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (n 2970)(Frequencies and percentages)

Figure 2

Table 3. Eating habits pre- and during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (n 2970)(Frequencies and percentages)

Figure 3

Table 4. Frequency of consumption of particular foods during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (n 2970)(Frequencies and percentages)

Figure 4

Table 5. Shopping practices during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (n 2970)(Frequencies and percentages)

Figure 5

Table 6. Daily activities pre- and during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (n 2970)(Frequencies and percentages)

Figure 6

Table 7. Sleep pre- and during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (n 2970)(Frequencies and percentages)

Figure 7

Fig. 1. (a) Physical activity pre- and during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (P values represent significance levels of McNemar’s test). , Pre-COVID-19; , during COVID-19. (b) Physical activity during COVID-19 pandemic and change in weight (P values represent significance levels of χ2 test). , Lost weight; , gained weight; , maintained weight; , I do not know.

Figure 8

Fig. 2. (a) Percentage of participants feeling physically exhausted pre- and during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic; (b) percentage of participants feeling emotionally exhausted pre- and during COVID-19 pandemic; (c) percentage of participants feeling irritable pre- and during COVID-19 pandemic and (d) percentage of participants feeling tense pre- and during COVID-19 pandemic (P values represent significance levels of McNemar’s test). , During COVID-19; , pre-COVID-19.

Supplementary material: PDF

Cheikh Ismail et al. supplementary material

Appendix 1

Download Cheikh Ismail et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 260.1 KB