Dietary patterns, food cravings and academic stress in Mexican university students during COVID-19 lockdown

Background and objectives

The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly impacted university students, presenting multifaceted challenges including the abrupt transition to virtual learning and significant disruptions to emotional well-being and dietary habits. This study aimed to investigate the dietary and nutritional characteristics associated with academic stress among Mexican university students during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 114 university students in Mexico. Participants completed a self-reported questionnaire assessing dietary patterns, nutritional intake, and academic stress levels. Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to data collection.

Results

Among study participants (n = 114), 57.8% experienced moderate academic stress, while 25.7% reported high academic stress during the COVID-19 lockdown. Notably, 13.5% of students demonstrated food cravings that were significantly associated with increased consumption of red and fatty meats (P = 0.030) and sausages (P = 0.017). A negative virtual education experience was associated with food cravings towards high-calorie and saturated-fat foods (P = 0.014), as well as elevated academic stress levels (P = 0.009). Furthermore, high academic stress levels were positively associated with food cravings (P = 0.020), particularly towards carbohydrate-rich foods (P = 0.037).

Conclusions

This retrospective investigation demonstrates the significant impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on academic performance, nutritional behaviors, and emotional well-being among university students in Mexico. The findings reveal an association between elevated academic stress levels and maladaptive dietary habits, characterized by an increased frequency of cravings for energy-dense foods. These dietary changes were notably concurrent with negative perceptions of the virtual education implemented during the lockdown period.

These results emphasize the critical need for implementing comprehensive support strategies addressing the holistic well-being of university students. Such interventions should focus on multiple domains: mitigating the adverse effects of academic stress, facilitating the adoption of health-promoting behaviors, and minimizing the negative impacts of COVID-19 lockdown measures and virtual education on the student population.

Full text:

https://www.xiahepublishing.com/2472-0712/ERHM-2024-00010

The study was recently published in the Exploratory Research and Hypothesis in Medicine.

Exploratory Research and Hypothesis in Medicine (ERHM) publishes original exploratory research articles and state-of-the-art reviews that focus on novel findings and the most recent scientific advances that support new hypotheses in medicine. The journal accepts a wide range of topics, including innovative diagnostic and therapeutic modalities as well as insightful theories related to the practice of medicine. The exploratory research published in ERHM does not necessarily need to be comprehensive and conclusive, but the study design must be solid, the methodologies must be reliable, the results must be true, and the hypothesis must be rational and justifiable with evidence.