In 2020, a state of emergency (SOE) was enforced by the Japanese government, which included temporary school closures with the aim of overcoming COVID-19 spread, which prevented access to school lunches. We evaluated the relationship between meal quality and guardians' literacy of meal preparation for a nationally representative sample of 1107 Japanese schoolchildren (aged 10-14 years) before, during, and after the SOE on the basis of 7 questions scored using a 5-point Likert scale. The guardians' literacy of meal preparation for children was divided into quartiles, with Q1 and Q4 including participants with the lowest and highest scores on food literacy, respectively. School lunch menu was handed out monthly to each household by their classroom teacher. The consumption of (i) meat, fish, or eggs and (ii) vegetables at least twice a day indicated "well-balanced dietary intake", which was less frequent in all four quartiles, especially for Q1 and Q2, during compared to before the SOE. The relative risk increases (95% CI) were Q1: -40.6% (-41.4% to -39.8%; p < 0.001), Q2: -34.0% (-34.7% to -33.3%; p < 0.001), Q3: -13.1% (-13.8% to -12.4%; p < 0.001), and Q4: -15.3% (-16.0% to -14.7%; p < 0.001), adjusted for sex, age, BMI, equivalent income adjusted for the number of household members, and educational level of parents. The interaction p was <0.001 for Q1-3 vs. Q4. Guardians with low total scores were significantly more likely to have less time, mental capacity, and financial ability to prepare meals after the SOE. Therefore, schoolchildren's meal quality deteriorated during the SOE, particularly among those with guardians with low food literacy even after adjustment for household income level and guardians' educational level.
Keywords: Burden for preparing meals; COVID-19; Food literacy; Japan; Quality of meals; Schoolchildren.
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