COVID-19 phobia, mindful eating, eating habits and body weight change among university students during pandemic: A pilot study

To evaluate the effects of the COVID-19 phobia on mindful eating, eating habits and body weight change among university students. This study was carried out with 385 university students who have been in social isolation at home for at least 2 months. The online survey was constituted via an internet-based questionnaire on Google forms. The survey includes demographics features, body weight, eating habits, change in appetite and consumption of food/food groups. COVID-19 Phobia Scale (C19P-S) and the Mindful Eating Questionnaire (MEQ) were used. Results: Both males and females had similar scores from C19P-S and MEQ. Body weight and BMI of students significantly increased during the pandemic period (p<0.05). The percentage of being underweight decreased and being pre-obese/obese increased during the pandemic period. The percentage of the increase in the consumption of sweets, toffees, candies and foods with sugar was high in both groups (male: 48.2%; female: 47.1%). The most increased consumption of food groups was fruit, and also fast food was the most decreased among the consumption of food groups in this study. In addition, a negative correlation was found between C19P-S and MEQ scores (r=-0.214, p<0.001). And also there was a negative correlation between the MEQ subscale of emotional eating scores and psychological, psycho-somatic and social subscales of C19P-S (p<0.01). C19P-S scores had significantly higher in those with increased or decreased appetite and MEQ scores had significantly higher in those who have decreased or unchanged appetite. COVID-19 phobia can affect mindful eating and eating habits during the social isolation/pandemic period in university students. It is important to increase mindful eating during the pandemic, to provide adequate and balanced nutrition, to reduce the risk of disease and to affect the course of the disease positively.