SOME PEOPLE KEEP going back to the drawing board. Although they strive to achieve fitness status – they are experts in self-sabotage! Their dietary habits, and therefore their general health, has not gone well.
Scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital, King’s College London, Stanford Medicine, & Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health – conducted two studies during the first lockdown relating to people’s eating and drinking habits.
The first study in the US clearly illustrated the shocking effect of increased snacking and drinking alcohol during the first lockdown period (between March and June 2020).
Involving 97,000 participants, 31% of them increased snacking and gained an average of 7lb in weight. 20% increased their alcohol consumption, resulting in a weight gain of 4.6lb. The research showed that the typical weight gain during a shorter holiday period, ie Christmas/New Year is usually only 1lb.
The data showed that many participants snacked 2 or 3 times a day and that equalled around 22% of their total calorie intake each day. The knock-on effect was to increase fat in the bloodstream, cause sugar ‘spikes’ and oxidative stress to cause dietary inflammation, which is known to have a negative impact on metabolism.
When you think that each kilogram (2.2lb) of weight gained annually is associated with a 49% increased risk of developing Type II diabetes in the subsequent 10 years, the gains reported in this survey are worrying. In addition, the risk of cardio-vascular disease and cancer also increases (12% and 20% respectively).
Just swapping the typical high fat, high sugar snack with a handful of almonds results in reducing the risk of cardio-vascular disease by 32%!
The second study was conducted in the UK and involved one-million participants – the world’s largest study of its kind. It asked questions about dietary quality, alcohol consumption, snacking frequency, weekday sleep duration, and physical activity, to determine how the disruption of lockdown affected the group. The results showed that the highest levels of disruption were found in young females (who experienced the greatest weight changes) and in those living in more deprived areas.
Across the whole population of the study, average weight did not change significantly but there was greater variability in the amount gained or the amount lost. Those who gained weight (34%) put on an average of 3.5kg and those who lost weight (32%) lost 4kg.
There was an upward trend in dietary quality, with more fruit and veg, beans and pulses, and ice-cream (!) being consumed. Significantly less pasta was consumed but this probably reflected the state of the supermarket shelves – toilet rolls and pasta were the biggest gaps in the market!!
The was also a positive change in weekday sleep duration (up by 15% for some, down by 9% for others).
There was a negative change in the frequency of alcohol consumption (18% drinking more and 11% drinking less frequently)
More people (39%) experienced improvements in their health behaviour than those who found lockdown had a detrimental effect (26%). It seems that the lockdown disruption was a positive impetus to change and, surprisingly, had a higher impact on those who started unhealthy than on those who started healthy. This result was regardless of socio-economic circumstances. This perfectly illustrates how many who had no healthy aspirations were inclined to adopt lifestyle changes in a positive way.
