COVID-19 Pandemic and Nutrition Status in Children: A Bidirectional Negative Relation

The rapid spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 causing a pandemic of human coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), due to which most world countries instituted a lockdown, created conditions that could in many ways negatively affect population health besides the infection itself. The aim of this chapter is to present the latest data on the trends and possible causes of under and overnutrition occurring in children during the pandemic. Furthermore, the evidence on how the changes in nutrition status impair the prognosis of COVID-19 and the most recent recommendations on nutrition treatment strategies are emphasized. Undernutrition and nutritional deficiencies were expected to increase in less developed countries, but also in underprivileged societal groups in well-developed countries, due to an increase in poverty, unemployment, and food insecurity. On the other end of the spectrum, social distancing, a decrease in physical activity, an increase in screening time, and negative changes in eating habits are also fostered during the COVID-19 pandemic, and all of them are well-known causes of pediatric obesity. Both undernutrition and obesity, per se, negatively affect the severity of COVID-19, closing the bidirectional vicious circle of causes and consequences.