Reported dietary habits and lifestyle behaviors of students before and during COVID-19 lockdown: A cross-sectional survey among university students from Ghana

Background: COVID-19 lockdowns involved precautions and social rules that resulted in drastic changes to daily life activities in every setting. University students were not left out as their education was affected and they had to resort to online learning from their homes. The lockdowns did not only affect their education but also potentially affected their dietary habits and lifestyle behaviors. We evaluated the reported dietary habits and lifestyle behaviors of students from a Ghanaian University before and during the COVID-19 lockdown. Materials and Methods: Following a cross-sectional design, 220 students were recruited from the University for Development Studies in Ghana. Data was collected by means of an online questionnaire. Chi-square test (chi(2)) analysis was used to examine associations among variables. Results: About 59% of the students skipped meals before COVID-19 whereas 47.8% skipped meals during the COVID-19 lockdown. While 64.1% consumed homemade meals before the COVID-19, 82.3% consumed homemade meals during the COVID-19 lockdown. In addition, there was a significant increase in the consumption of homemade food (p < 0.001), level of healthy foods choices (p = 0.029), and a reduced skipping of meals (0.014) during the COVID-19 lockdown. Again, 56.4% of the students engaged in exercise before the lockdown while 45% participated in exercise during the lockdown. Conclusions: The lockdown had an impact on some of the dietary and lifestyle habits of the students. University students should be supported with appropriate nutrition education and counseling programs to help them adopt healthy dietary and lifestyle habits.