How Has the Strict Lockdown During the Sars-Cov-2 Outbreak Changed the Diet of Spaniards?

Purpose: We investigate the impact of a specific macroeconomic shock induced by the SARS-COV-2 outbreak, the strict lockdown imposed in Spain on the 14th of March 2020.Methods: We use fortnightly purchase data on over 50,000 households from a supermarket chain in Catalonia from March to June 2019 and 2020. Using a panel data approach, we analyse the impact of the lockdown on the caloric content, sugar composition, and alcohol content in beverages and food fortnight purchases. We corrected our results based on the likely stockpiling scenario.Results: The lockdown caused unhealthy decisions on beverages and food purchases. We find heterogeneous effects after disentangling the sample based on cardholder characteristics. Families with children or babies and those in the upper two income quintiles had the unhealthiest changes. Besides, with the phase-down process of lockdown, households changed to better food decisions but not unhealthy beverage choices.Conclusions: The very restrictive Spanish lockdown negatively impacted the food and beverage purchases made by Spaniards. We also evidenced heterogeneous effects arising from cardholder characteristics. These unhealthier choices reversed for food but not drinks once the lockdown progressively disappeared, although we evidenced heterogeneous reactions during the later lockdown phases