Do pandemics influence food choice motives, diet, and health behaviors? Evidence from a cross-sectional survey in Pakistan during COVID-19 pandemic

Background COVID-19 has significanlty impacted the health and wellbeing of individuals by influencing the diet and lifestyle. Therefore, this study was designed to compare the dietary and health practices pre and post COVID-19 infection and to study the association of change in dietary and health practices with the change in food choice motives. Methods An online cross-sectional survey was conducted, and retrospective data was gathered from 259 recovered cases of COVID-19 aged 18–50 years in Pakistan. Survey questionnaire included socio-demographic information, adherence to Pakistan dietary guidelines, Breslow’s health practices and food choice motives. Results Dietary practices improved (0.17 ± 1.56), and health practices deteriorated (-0.18 ± 1.36) after COVID-19 infection. Importance of convenience, health, mood, natural content, weight control, familiarity and ethical concern while choosing food increased after suffering from COVID-19. Improvement in the dietary practices was correlated with the health practices (r = 0.32), convenience (r = 0.15), health concern (r = 0.16), mood (r = 0.18) and natural content of food (r = 0.15). Changes in the dietary practices were found to be negatively associated (p = 0.043, B=-0.145) with the price of food. Conclusion It can be concluded that food choice motives of Pakistani population have changed during COVID-19 and these changes were found to be related to the dietary and health practices.