ORCID Profile
0000-0002-3080-1533
Current Organisation
University of Bahrain
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Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 17-03-2022
Abstract: During pregnancy, woman’s diet is one of the most preeminent factors affecting mother and child’s health. Prior to the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic, inadequate maternal diet and low adherence to dietary guidelines was reported among pregnant women in the Arab countries. Nowadays, COVID-19 infection during pregnancy is widely discussed among literature. However, there is limited data on the health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on non-infected pregnant women. This substantially larger group also suffered significant lifestyle changes during the lockdown period. The aim of the study is to characterize dietary patterns, intake and adherence to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) pregnancy guidelines before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Arab pregnant women. Using a specially designed questionnaire and using the snowball s ling method, the survey was carried out among a convenient s le of 1,939 pregnant women from five Arab countries. Our study found an increment in the consumption of cereals, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, meats, and nuts that occurred during the pandemic compared to the preceding period. Despite this noticeable increase during the pandemic, the Arab pregnant women in this study had significantly lower adherence to the USDA pregnancy guidelines. The daily consumption of almost all food groups was lower than the USDA’s daily recommendations, except for fruits intake, which was higher than the daily standard. Demonstrated poor adherence to prenatal USDA dietary guidelines by Arab pregnant women can lead to numerous deficiencies and health risks among their offspring. In conclusion, our study showed that before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, poor adherence to dietary recommendations occurred in a considerable number of Arab pregnant women. The findings emphasize the need for nutritional education and intervention during prenatal visits.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 04-02-2021
Abstract: To examine changes in planning, selecting, and preparing healthy foods in relation to personal factors (time, money, stress) and social distancing policies during the COVID-19 crisis. Using cross-sectional online surveys collected in 38 countries worldwide in April-June 2020 ( N = 37,207, M age 36.7 SD 14.43, 73.6% women), we compared changes in food literacy behaviors to changes in personal factors and social distancing policies, using hierarchical multiple regression analyses controlling for sociodemographic variables. Increases in planning (4.7 SD 1.2, 4.9 SD 1.3), selecting (3.8 SD 1.7, 3.8 SD 1.7), and preparing (4.6 SD 1.3, 4.7 SD 1.3) healthy foods were found for women and men, and positively related to perceived time availability among women and stay-at-home policies for planning and preparing in women. Psychological distress was a barrier for women, and an enabler for men. COVID-19 induced financial stress was a barrier depending on various sociodemographic variables (all p & 0.01). Stay-at-home policies and feelings of having more time during COVID-19 seem to have improved food literacy among women. Stress and other social distancing policies relate to food literacy in more complex ways, highlighting the necessity of a health equity lens.
Publisher: E.U. European Publishing
Date: 11-11-2022
DOI: 10.18332/TID/155007
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 15-02-2022
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the Eastern Mediterranean Region's food system's fragility posing severe challenges to maintaining healthy sustainable lifestyle. The aim of this cross-sectional study ( N = 13,527 household's family members, mean age: 30.3 ±11.6, 80% women) is to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food consumption patterns and household's dietary ersity in 10 Eastern Mediterranean countries. A food frequency questionnaire was used to investigate the consumption patterns along with the calculation of the Food Consumption Score (FCS), a proxy indicator of dietary ersity. Data collected on cooking attitudes, shopping and food stock explore the community mitigation measures. In the overall population, before and during the pandemic, most food groups were consumed less or equal to 4 times per week. As evident from our findings and considering that the pandemic may be better, but it's not over, small to moderate changes in food consumption patterns in relatively short time periods can become permanent and lead to substantial poor dietary ersity over time. While it is a priority to mitigate the immediate impact, one area of great concern is the long-term effects of this pandemic on dietary patterns and dietary ersity in Eastern Mediterranean households. To conclude, the COVID-19 crisis revealed the region's unpreparedness to deal with a pandemic. While the aggressive containment strategy was essential for most countries to help prevent the spread, it came at a high nutritional cost, driving poor dietary ersity.
No related grants have been discovered for Sabika Allehdan.