The Relationship Between Anxiety and Nutritional Habits During Covid-19 Pandemic

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between anxiety and nutritional habits in individuals during the COVID-19 period. The study was carried out with 800 individuals living in provinces across Turkey between February and March 2021. Data were collected using a questionnaire created on Google Forms, which included a Descriptive Information Form, the ORTO-11 Scale, and the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale. The mean anxiety score of participants whose nutritional habits changed was statistically significantly higher than the score of those whose nutritional habits did not change (p = 0.000). It was found that the mean anxiety scores were found to be statistically significantly higher in participants whose weight increased than in those whose weight did not change (p = 0.002) and in those who consumed three or more snacks a day than in those who did not consume snacks at all (p = 0.002).The mean anxiety scores were found to be statistically significantly higher also in participants who used Zn (p = 0.015), Mg (p = 0.019), omega 3 (p = 0.002), vitamin C (p = 0.000), vitamin D (p = 0.000), turmeric extract (p = 0.002), black elderberry extract (p =0.001), and multivitamins (p=0.001) than in those who did not use them. A very weak, negative, and statistically significant relationship was found between the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale and ORTO-11 Scale scores (r: -0.102, p = 0.000). According to the findings of this study, the increase in individuals’ anxiety levels during the COVID-19 pandemic caused changes in their nutritional status.