Dietary recommendations and health-promoting food basket during pandemic crisis

During the COVID-19 pandemic, It was necessary to ensure an optimal nutritional status of the human body and maintain a normal body weight. This can be achieved with a balanced diet, which covers all the necessary nutrients for the body in an appropriate amount with respect to age, sex, physiological state and physical activity according to the recommended dietary allowances (RDA). The goal of our work was to quantify the amount and composition of food in accordance with nutritional recommendations with an emphasis on crisis situations such as COVID-19 pandemic. Using the nutritional software Alimenta 4.3e (Food Research Institute, Bratislava, Slovakia), we compiled bi-weekly menus in accordance with RDA for four selected physiological groups that are most represented in the Slovak population. The recipes were also the basis for defining the amount of food needed for a period of 14 days, reflecting the length of the quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic. The defined amounts of food for selected physiological groups can serve as health-promoting food basket, which has been absent for a long time in the Slovakia.