Nutritional status and eating habits of bariatric patients with and without nutritional monitoring during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic is an infectious disease with the development of mild to severe symptoms and, among the preventive measures, social isolation was recommended. During confinement, emotional problems and stress led to increased consumption of highcalorie and ultra -processed foods. Postbariatric surgery patients are especially vulnerable to emotional distress and inappropriate lifestyle behaviors. Objective: To evaluate the association between self -reported nutritional status, eating habits, and nutritional monitoring of bariatric patients in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. Materials and methods: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive, and analytical, online study with 412 bariatric patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil from September 2021 to February 2022. Results and discussion: Patients with nutritional monitoring had higher BMI during the prepandemic period and higher consumption of fresh fruit, while patients without nutritional monitoring had a positive association with higher consumption of ultra -processed foods and the habit of skipping 6 meals a day; additionally, not consuming fresh fruit was positively associated with high body mass index. Conclusion: Given this, it is evident that the COVID-19 pandemic caused impacts on the studied population, with changes in anthropometric data and eating habits.