COVID‑19, Mental Health and Nutrition: A Literature review

• Autor(a) principal: Fraga, Ana Margarida
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Mesquita, Bárbara, Facucho-Oliveira, João, Albuquerque, Margarida, Costa, Miguel, Espada-Santos, Pedro, Moutinho, Adriana
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.51338/rppsm.2021.v7.i3.223
• topic: COVID-19; Mental Health; SARS-CoV-2; Immune System; Diet, Mediterranean; Diet; Feeding Behavior; COVID-19; Saúde Mental; SARS-CoV-2; Sistema Imunitário; Comportamento Alimentar; Dieta; Dieta Mediterrânea

Since the pandemic was declared in March 2020 by World Health Organization, COVID‑19 has been responsible for a disruptive impact on health, economy, and interpersonal relationships, with significant repercussions on mental health and the eating habits. A bibliographic review was carried out through the PubMed database, which aimed to study the implications of COVID‑19 on the mental health and eating habits of individuals. The association between increased psychopathological symptoms and pandemics has been established throughout human history. During the COVID‑19 pandemic, studies that sought to assess the mental health of individuals who had been infected with SARS‑CoV‑2 and/or were in quarantine found an increased prevalence of psychopathological symptoms such as anxiety, sadness or fear. The duration of the quarantine, socioeconomic problems, false and/or inappropriate information and the neurotropism of the virus, were some of the risk factors pointed to the appearance of these symptoms. Likewise, the scientific community has also found a relationship between the quarantine period and depressive symptoms with increased consumption of comfort foods, with high energy density and low in nutrients. This not only increases the risk of developing chronic non‑communicable diseases, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus, but it also seems to influence the hypothalamic‑pituitary‑adrenal axis, with impairment of the immune system and an increase in mental illnesses such as depression. The immune response is, ultimately, the only way we have to overcome this pandemic. SARS‑CoV‑2 has had an important negative impact both on the mental health of the population and on their food choices, which conditions out immune response. Thus, more than only measures to prevent contamination, also to promote a healthy lifestyle seem to be the best strategies against COVID‑19, with a view to increase our “psychoneuroimmunity” to better overcome this pandemic.