Changes in the environement and food group/nutrient intake during the COVID-19 pandemic

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic forced several countries and regions to respond. Under these circumstances, lockdown or state of emergency regulates people’s behavior, creating major impacts on their lives and changing their behavior in relation to dietary habits. Although recent studies have expressed concerns that lockdown may induce income disparities and health inequalities, the lockdown has increased the frequency of eating at home and decreased the frequency of eating out; these environmental changes led to healthy dietary habits. This study aims to reveal causal relationships between environmental changes and food group/nutrient intake during the state of emergency in Japan and states the policy implication for dietary habits, as to what environmental changes are acceptable and what changes should be avoided.