During the pandemic period, “boys and girls increased their consumption of salty snacks (24%) and sweet foods (25%) and slightly decreased their consumption of fruit (8%) and vegetables (9%). Despite emerging greater daily irregularity in the consumption of meals, positive changes were also detected such as a greater consumption of family meals (39%) and of food cooked at home together with sons and daughters (42%)”. This was reported by the results of the Epas-Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) study, ‘Effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the health behaviors and lifestyle of girls, boys and their families resident in Italy’, presented today in Rome in a conference at the ISS dedicated to the topic of childhood obesity. The research made it possible to detect and investigate the effects that the Covid pandemic has had on the lifestyles and well-being of girls and boys in the third year of primary school and their families.
Parents reported that, compared to the pre-pandemic period, “their sons and daughters experienced a worsening of their physical and psychosocial well-being. In particular, they noted a decrease in vitality and energy, as well as an increase in feelings of sadness and loneliness”. In analogy with what was found at an international level, the Epas-Iss data on movement and sedentary lifestyle highlighted “a reduction in the time dedicated to active play and outdoor activities (44%) and an increase in the time spent in front of an electronic device (53%)”.
The families declared “that they received support at school, even if a pronounced heterogeneity in response to the pandemic by different educational institutions emerged. The data from the study also highlighted an increase in educational inequalities following distance learning, especially among the most vulnerable girls and boys”, concludes the ISS note.
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