Objective

To evaluate the effect of educational interventions on improving eating habits and adherence to the Mediterranean diet in Honduran university students during the time of COVID-19. The emancipation of the home makes university students face a new environment for planning their diet during the transition to their university life.

Methods

An observational cross-sectional descriptive cohort study was conducted between February and June 2020. The data presented in this study are derived from surveys of eating behaviors and adherence to the Mediterranean diet (DM) before and after nutritional educational interventions in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Results

The group with interventions improved their eating behaviors going from unhealthy (median: 14,4) to moderately healthy (median: 17,3); in the same way, it happened in the adherence to DM, going from low adherence (median: 7,6) to medium adherence (median: 8,3). In the control group, their adherence did not change, maintaining low adherence, nor their eating habits, remaining in unhealthy habits.

Conclusions

There is evidence that the Mediterranean dietary pattern may be an option to reduce health problems, especially in times of pandemic, which is why this research showed that a foreign dietary pattern can coexist in a Latin-American environment once its benefits are known.