Objective: Obesity is a risk factor for severe complications and death from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Public health efforts to control the pandemic may alter health behaviors related to weight gain, inflammation, and poor cardiometabolic health, exacerbating the prevalence of obesity, poor immune health, and chronic diseases.Design: We reviewed how the pandemic adversely influences many of these behaviors, specifically physical activity, sedentary behaviors, sleep, and dietary intakes, and provided individual level strategies that may be used to mitigate them.Results: At the community level and higher, public health and health care professionals need to advocate for intervention strategies and policy changes that address these behaviors, such as increasing nutrition assistance programs and creating designated areas for recreation and active transportation, to reduce disparities among vulnerable populations.Conclusions: The long-lasting impact of the pandemic on health behaviors, and the possibility of a second COVID-19 wave, emphasize the need for creative and evolving, multi-level approaches to assist individuals in adapting their health behaviors to prevent both chronic and infectious diseases.

Phenolic compounds represent a class of environmental chemicals with potentially endocrine-disrupting capabilities. We investigated longitudinal associations between childhood exposure to phenols, from both manmade and natural sources, and subsequent measures of adiposity among girls enrolled in the Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program between 2004 and 2007. Baseline (ages 6–8 years) urinary concentrations were obtained for creatinine and phenol metabolites: enterolactone, genistein, daidzein, benzophenone-3, bisphenol A, the sum of parabens (methyl, ethyl, and propyl parabens), 2,5-dichlorophenol, and triclosan. Body mass index (weight (kg)/height (m)²), waist circumference, and percent body fat were measured at annual or semiannual examinations through 2015 (n = 1,017). Linear mixed-effects regression was used to estimate how baseline concentrations of phenols (tertile groups) were related to changes in girls’ adiposity measurements from ages 7 through 15 years. Enterolactone was inversely associated with body mass index, waist circumference, and percent body fat, while 2,5-dichlorophenol was positively associated with these measurements. A nonmonotonic association was observed for triclosan and girls’ adiposity; however, it was due to effect modification by baseline overweight status. Triclosan was positively associated with adiposity only among overweight girls. These results suggest that exposure to specific phenols during childhood may influence adiposity through adolescence.

Hispanic women have a higher prevalence of weight associated complications in pregnancy. This ethnic disparity is likely related to behavior patterns, social circumstances, environmental exposures, and access to healthcare, rather than biologic differences. The objective was to determine associations between sociodemographic characteristics, health behaviors, and psychosocial stressors and gestational weight gain (GWG) in low-income Hispanic women. During pregnancy, information on sociodemographic characteristics, health behaviors, and psychosocial stressors were collected. Linear regression estimated mean differences in GWG by selected predictors. Multinomial logistic regression estimated odds of inadequate and excessive GWG by selected predictors. Five-hundred and eight women were included, 38% had inadequate and 28% had excessive GWG; 57% with a normal pre-pregnancy BMI had inadequate GWG. Compared to women with normal BMI, women with overweight or obesity were more likely to have excessive GWG (aRRR = 1.88, 95% CI: 1.04, 3.40 and aRRR = 1.98, 95% CI: 1.08, 3.62, respectively). Mean total GWG was higher among women who were nulliparous (ß = 1.34 kg, 95% CI: 0.38, 2.29) and those who engaged in ≥3 h of screen time daily (ß = 0.98 kg, 95% CI: 0.02, 1.94), and lower among women who were physically active during pregnancy (ß = −1.00 kg, 95% CI: −1.99, −0.03). Eating breakfast daily was associated with lower risk of inadequate GWG (aRRR = 0.47, 95% CI: 0.26, 0.83). Depressive symptoms and poor adherence to dietary recommendations were prevalent, but none of the psychosocial or dietary variables were associated with GWG. In this cohort of primarily immigrant, low-income, Hispanic women, there were high rates of poor adherence to diet and physical activity recommendations, and a majority of women did not meet GWG guidelines. Modifiable health behaviors were associated with GWG, and their promotion should be included in prenatal care.