Nutrition knowledge, food choices and diet quality of genotyped and non-genotyped individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Severe obesity (body mass index >40 kg/m2) and non-communicable diseases, both influenced by diet, have been associated with COVID-19. Genotype-based personalised nutrition advice may improve nutrition knowledge and enhance behaviour change towards better diet quality compared with conventional recommendations. Aim: To investigate the nutrition knowledge, food choices and diet quality in genotyped and non-genotyped individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: One hundred and twenty-three healthy UK adults were recruited using convenience sampling through social networks. The online questionnaire consisted of the General Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire, the Food Choices Questionnaire, and the EPIC-Norfolk Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). FFQ was used to calculate participant diet quality with the Diet Quality Index-International and socio-demographic and anthropometric data. Results: Median general nutrition knowledge, diet variety and diet balance scores were higher in genotyped compared with non-genotyped individuals (71.0 + 11.0 vs. 61.0 + 15.0, p ¼ <.001, 18.00 + 5.00 vs. 15.00 + 5.00, p ¼ .007 and 2.00 + 4.00 vs. 0.00 + 2.00, p ¼ .025, respectively). Pooled sample multiple regression showed that health motive positively influenced while familiarity motive negatively influenced diet quality index scores (b ¼ .428, t ¼ 4.822, p ¼ <.001 and b ¼ –.356, t ¼ –4.021, p ¼ .001, respectively). Conclusions: Nutrition knowledge and diet quality indices of balance and variety were higher among genotyped compared with non-genotyped individuals; overall diet quality was similar between groups. This may be due to pandemic-specific factors, such as altered motives of food choice and availability.