İstanbul'da özel bir eğitim kurumunda eğitim alan çocukluk ve adölesan dönem öğrencilerinin COVID-19 pandemi döneminde uzaktan ve yüz yüze eğitimleri sırasında beslenme alışkanlıklarının ve besin tüketim sıklıklarının karşılaştırılması

Children and adolescents have been greatly affected by the pandemic, both psychologically and physically, due to their limited social life, staying away from school and outdoor activities due to COVID-19. In this study, it was aimed to compare the changes in the eating habits of children and adolescents who spent time at home in restricted physical conditions instead of at school due to distance education during the pandemic. In this context, the research was carried out with 160 students between the ages of 5-18, studying at Private Ataşehir Bilgi College, where I worked as a dining hall dietitian within the scope of mass nutrition systems in Istanbul between 07.02.2022 and 21.02.2022. A total of 54 childhood students, 21 girls and 33 boys, between the ages 5-11 years and a total of 106 adolescent students, 39 girls and 67 boys between the ages of 12-18, participated in the study. In the research, a questionnaire consisting of 3 main parts was applied to the students. The questionnaire consists of the sociodemographic form in which personal information is questioned first, the general information form in which the nutritional habits of the students are evaluated in the second part, and the food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) in which each of the 46 nutrients under 6 main topics is examined both before and during the pandemic period. While evaluating the findings obtained in the study, SPSS 24.0 program was used for statistical analysis. The results were evaluated at the 95% confidence interval, at the p<0.05 level of significance. According to the findings, the consumption of eggs, fish, oilseeds, fruits, cookies-biscuits-cakes, pastries, milky desserts and soft drinks increased during the pandemic period compared to the pre-pandemic period. In addition, consumption of ayran/yogurt, white meat, dried fruit, white bread and cracked wheat rice decreased. The rate of decrease in the consumption of ayran/yogurt of the students in the childhood period during the pandemic (33.3%) compared to the adolescent students (11.3%); the decrease in the consumption of white meat (22.2%) compared to the adolescent students (2.8%); the rate of decrease in dry fruit consumption (24.1%) compared to the adolescent students (5.7%); the decrease in white bread consumption (27.8%) compared to the adolescent students (5.7%); the rate of decrease in cracked wheat rice consumption (22.2%) was determined statistically significantly higher than that of adolescent students compared to the pre-pandemic period (0.9%) (p=0.001; p<0.01). The rate of decrease in fish consumption of childhood students (31.5%) was determined statistically significantly higher than that of adolescent students (13.2%) compared to the pre-pandemic period (p=0.019; p<0.05). The rate of increase (13%) in the consumption of cookies-biscuits-cakes of the students in the childhood period during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period was determined statistically significantly higher than those are in the adolescent period (2.8%) (p=0.020; p<0.05). During the COVID-19 pandemic, when the restrictions were intense, the eating habits of children and adolescents who remained in limited physical and social conditions were negatively affected by the change in their eating habits, and their negative eating behaviors increased, and their consumption of food with low nutritional value and high calorie content increased. Keywords: COVID-19, Food Frequency, Nutritional Habits, Childhood, Adolescent