Lockdown has affected all of our lives, and mostly not for the better. The researchers from the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity and the Bite Back 2030 agree, but the news is not all bad. A study of young people’s eating habits in England during the lockdown has found that while snacking has become more common, there has also been an increase in families sharing meal times.
The study, which focused on the eating habits of more than 1,000 14-19 year olds, found that 60 percent of youth believe that family meals are beneficial to both health and wellbeing. The youth also indicated that they would be happy to keep sharing family meals after lockdown. While the increase in family meals during lockdown was greater among families from higher socio-economic backgrounds, an increase was also evident in poorer families.
“Food during this period allowed me to reconnect with members of my family, we’ve been cooking together and enjoying meals together. I’d love to continue doing it,” said a 19-year-old young woman who participated in the study.
“I think I want to continue to eat together with my family, really make an effort of that, as we didn’t normally do that, and it’s nice to sit together and eat,” an 18-year-old study participant said.
According to the nutrition expert form Supplementnation.co.uk, children who eat more home-cooked meals have a higher intake of vegetables, fruit, vitamins, and minerals than those who are raised on takeaways. “Eating nutritious food and supplements has been particularly important to boosting our immune systems during the challenging times of COVID-19,” she said.
The research has also found a correlation between the lockdown and snacking in young people. In fact, the report indicates that there has been a 40 percent increase in grazing on unhealthy foods, such as chocolates and crisps, during the pandemic. Just like with family meal times, the study also found that young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds were “more likely to snack [and] less likely to eat fresh fruit and vegetables.”
According to Sarah Hickey, the childhood obesity programme director at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity, the research findings demonstrate the negative effects of the lockdown on England’s social divide. “Even before the pandemic, families’ food options were strongly shaped by where they lived, and their socio-economic background,” she said. “This research shows that the inequality gap around access to nutritious food has been further widened by the COVID-19 lockdown.”
