#VirusCasedemic ##Americans #weight #stress #anxiety #depression #obese #lockdowns
“Obesity was an epidemic in the US before the VirusCasedemic“– Paul Ebeling
Researcher Jagdish Khubchandani, a public health professor at New Mexico State University said, “We wanted to estimate weight changes in the US population and its determinants after the first year of the pandemic.”
To do that, he and his colleagues surveyed more than 3,400 adults and found that 48% said they gained weight during the 1st 12 months of the pandemic March 2020 to April 2021.
Those who reported weight gain were more likely to be male, white or Hispanic, married, 45 anni or older, have a full-time job, have less than a college education, and to live in southern and western states or rural areas.
The researchers also found that people were more likely to have gained weight if they were overweight before the pandemic (just over 2X more likely), had children at home (1.39X), had depression or anxiety (1.25X), or checked body weight within the last 6 months (1.32X).
The US consists of an adult population where the majority suffer from a chronic disease, are either overweight or obese, do not meet the physical activity guidelines, or have unhealthy eating patterns with lower consumption of fruits and vegetables.
The study was published in the January issue of the journal Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research and Reviews.
A prior New Mexico State University study found that the pandemic fueled stress-related unhealthy eating habits in Americans.
“Our study relates to a lot of national trends indicating high stress in some groups such as parents, essential workers, and those with limited incomes and lower education, and before the pandemic, stress was a major determinant of unhealthy lifestyles in adult Americans, and the problem continues to worsen for certain groups.”
Eat healthy, Be healthy, Live lively
