Study: how the pandemic affected the diet of Russians

Study: how the pandemic affected the diet of Russians

Spoiler: unlike other countries, it has not changed for the better.

COVID-19 pandemic has affected many spheres of our life. Of course, habits have changed during this time, including eating habits. Nielsen conducted a study to find out how shoppers now behave in grocery stores. And many of them have abandoned healthy eating items. Will we go back to our old lifestyles or will we forget about HEA forever?

Giving up on healthy eating

According to the survey results, some of the most affected by COVID-19 were healthy eating items. Despite more than 80% of respondents trying to follow a healthy lifestyle, while gyms and parks were closed, few people wanted to maintain a pp regimen.

Maybe it’s the stress that made everyone give up their usual diet. Or maybe it was the reduction of wages at that time, which helped to save money on “healthy” products.

But the trend for “home consumption” has replaced HWI, and it’s hard not to notice it. Researchers note that “sales of flour, yeast, eggs, tomato paste, and many other ingredients for more complex meals that require the cooking time that has emerged in self-isolation continue to grow at a high rate.”

That doesn’t mean, however, that healthy eating products have to wait for a return to a familiar lifestyle. Many of them already have a good chance to successfully enter new “culinary niches” to compensate for the decline in sales.

However, experts are confident that sales of such products will soon return to their usual growth rates. We have long wanted to stop the festive and self-isolating gluttony and go back to salads and boiled chicken. How about you?

What about other countries?

Surprisingly, Germans, on the contrary, have decided to take care of their health and diet accordingly. According to a survey conducted by the sociological institute Kantar Public, every fourth participant started cooking much more often during the pandemic. Every fifth has changed his menu: now recipes are made with more health benefits. The daily diet of the majority of respondents includes fresh vegetables and green salads, and almost every second person prefers vegetarian dishes.