Calorie Consumption Rose by 15% During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has shown that since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of calories we all eat has increased by up to 15%.

Using data compiled from millions of food and soft drink purchases in shops, takeaways and restaurants, the IFS claims that over the past year UK households have seen a sharp and sustained increase in calorie consumption.

According to IFS, calorie consumption was 15% above normal towards the end of the UK’s first national lockdown in May and remained around 10% above normal at the end of 2020.

“An important question for policy makers is whether the higher calorie consumption will persist after the pandemic,” said Martin O’Connell, assistant director of research at IFS and co-author of the study.

“Our results suggest that more home work is a factor in the higher calorie consumption. This could exacerbate the challenge of improving the diet of the population and reducing obesity. “

Predictably, restaurant meal calories fell to zero during the UK’s first national lockdown, but instead of helping people reduce the total number of calories they consumed, the UK diet was propped up by a surge in take-away calories doubling their peak at more than usual levels at the UK’s second national lockdown in November 2020.

However, despite the surge in homeworking, ready-to-eat meals, as well as snacks and treats, proved less popular than home-cooked meals as the pandemic shifted the calorie balance towards foods that had to be prepared at home.

Kate Smith, Associate Director of IFS and the study’s author, said, “The huge changes in how people work, eat, and socialize over the past year have resulted in significant increases in caloric intake.

“The increase in food consumed at home more than compensates for the decrease in calories from eating out. Ninety percent of households increased their caloric intake, with the largest increasing in the wealthiest households. “

Mark Franks, director of welfare at the Nuffield Foundation, one of the research funders, said, “We know the pandemic has had a major impact on physical and mental health and spread unevenly across society. This report adds to this evidence base by providing an important new analysis of changes in human diet.

“The rise in calorie consumption reinforces the need to address some of the systemic problems behind food inequality, such as the cost of a healthy diet versus a less healthy one, which can also contribute to obesity.

“Nor should it detract from the significant minority who struggled with access to food during the pandemic, as evidenced by increased use of blackboards and concerns about lack of access to free school meals.”

Daniel Davies
Daniel Davies is an author at Men’s Health UK and has been reporting for various publications on sports science, fitness and culture for the past five years.

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source https://dailyhealthynews.ca/calorie-consumption-rose-by-15-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/