IMPACTS OF EMOTIONAL EATING AND STRESS ON WEIGHT CHANGE DURING COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS IN LATVIAN WOMEN

Description

British Feeding and Drinking Group annual meeting, 2-day in-person conference, University of Leeds.
Abstract:
Covid-19 pandemic behavioural restrictions may have challenged attempts
at weight control and healthy eating. Associations of stress,
emotional eating, and diet with changes in body weight were investigated
in working Latvian women in Jan-Feb 2021. A cross-sectional online survey
assessed psychosocial experiences of work (Copenhagen Psychosocial
Questionnaire III; COPSOQ), self-reported weight changes over the past
year, eating attitudes, appetite changes due to COVID-19, working situation,
stress and anxiety, and diet (EPIC food frequency questionnaire) in
Latvian adults. Analyses included 804 working women (mean: age = 31.6
years; BMI = 23.7). Derived variables included a stress scale from relevant
COPSOQ items, and frequency of eating sweet fatty ‘comfort foods’. On
average, participants reported a significant increase in weight over the last
year (mean [SD] =1.54 [4.5] kg), and also a significant tendency to eat more
than pre-pandemic; however, 61% reported no consistent change in
weight, 31% reported an increase and 8% a decrease. Compared to those
that lost weight, women who gained weight were significantly more
stressed, ate comfort foods more often, scored higher on emotional and
external eating, and lower on restrained eating. In multiple regression
models, stress and comfort food frequency no longer predicted weight
change when emotional, external and restrained eating were included.
Still, comfort food frequency partly mediated the association of emotional
eating and weight change. In Latvian women, emotional and external
eating tendencies were risk factors for weight gain during pandemic restrictions,
in part due to increased eating of sweet fatty comfort foods.

Estimated audience numbers (if applicable)

120

Period	13 Apr 2023 → 14 Apr 2023
Event title	British Feeding and Drinking Group : 47th annual meeting
Event type	Conference
Location	Leeds, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International