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Increased emotional eating during COVID-19 associated with lockdown, psychological and social distress.
Cecchetto, C, Aiello, M, Gentili, C, Ionta, S, Osimo, SA
Appetite. 2021;160:105122
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After China, Italy was the first country in which the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic rapidly spread. As a consequence, a lockdown was imposed in the entire nation to reduce the spread of infections. The main aim of this study was to investigate how the negative emotions raised by the lockdown and the social features that characterised the quality of life during lockdown interacted with individual characteristics to affect the eating behaviour during the lockdown. This study is based on an anonymous online survey which was shared via social media targeting Italian residents or speakers who were 18 years of age or older. A total of 365 participants were considered for this study. Results indicate that: - increased emotional eating was significantly predicted by higher level of anxiety, depression, and partially, by Quality of Life and Quality of the Relationships. - increased binge eating was predicted by higher stress. - higher alexithymia [a broad term to describe problems with feeling emotions] scores were associated by increased emotional eating and higher body mass index scores were associated with both increased emotional eating and binge eating. - emotional eating and binge eating decreased significantly in Phase 2 compared to Phase 1 of the lockdown period. Authors conclude that future policies during lockdown should also take into consideration the emotional toll on individual well-being and should include measures of psychological support.
Abstract
Due to the spread of COVID 2019, the Italian government imposed a lockdown on the national territory. Initially, citizens were required to stay at home and not to mix with others outside of their household (Phase 1); eventually, some of these restrictions were lifted (Phase 2). To investigate the impact of lockdown on emotional and binge eating, an online survey was conducted to compare measures of self-reported physical (BMI), psychological (Alexithymia), affective (anxiety, stress, and depression) and social (income, workload) state during Phase 1 and Phase 2. Data from 365 Italian residents showed that increased emotional eating was predicted by higher depression, anxiety, quality of personal relationships, and quality of life, while the increase of bingeing was predicted by higher stress. Moreover, we showed that higher alexithymia scores were associated by increased emotional eating and higher BMI scores were associated with both increased emotional eating and binge eating. Finally, we found that from Phase 1 to Phase 2 binge and emotional eating decreased. These data provide evidence of the negative effects of isolation and lockdown on emotional wellbeing, and, relatedly, on eating behaviour.
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Influence of 4-week multi-strain probiotic administration on resting-state functional connectivity in healthy volunteers.
Bagga, D, Aigner, CS, Reichert, JL, Cecchetto, C, Fischmeister, FPS, Holzer, P, Moissl-Eichinger, C, Schöpf, V
European journal of nutrition. 2019;(5):1821-1827
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Abstract
PURPOSE Experimental investigations in rodents have contributed significantly to our current understanding of the potential importance of the gut microbiome and brain interactions for neurotransmitter expression, neurodevelopment, and behaviour. However, clinical evidence to support such interactions is still scarce. The present study used a double-blind, randomized, pre- and post-intervention assessment design to investigate the effects of a 4-week multi-strain probiotic administration on whole-brain functional and structural connectivity in healthy volunteers. METHODS Forty-five healthy volunteers were recruited for this study and were divided equally into three groups (PRP: probiotic, PLP: placebo, and CON: control). All the participants underwent resting-state functional MRI and diffusion MRI brain scans twice during the course of study, at the beginning (time point 1) and after 4 weeks (time point 2). MRI data were acquired using a 3T whole-body MR system (Magnetom Skyra, Siemens, Germany). RESULTS Functional connectivity (FC) changes were observed in the default mode network (DMN), salience network (SN), and middle and superior frontal gyrus network (MFGN) in the PRP group as compared to the PLP and CON groups. PRP group showed a significant decrease in FC in MFGN (in frontal pole and frontal medial cortex) and in DMN (in frontal lobe) as compared to CON and PLP groups, respectively. Further, significant increase in FC in SN (in cingulate gyrus and precuneus cortex) was also observed in PRP group as compared to CON group. The significance threshold was set to p < 0.05 FWE corrected. No significant structural differences were observed between the three groups. CONCLUSIONS This work provides new insights into the role of a multi-strain probiotic administration in modulating the behaviour, which is reflected as changes in the FC in healthy volunteers. This study motivates future investigations into the role of probiotics in context of major depression and stress disorders.