Dietary Behaviors and Metabolic Syndrome in Schizophrenia Patients

Abstract

The metabolic syndrome (MS) is highly prevalent in schizophrenia patients, resulting from both pharmacotherapy and their lifestyle. To avoid its development, the analysis of patients’ eating behaviors followed by the necessary nutritional changes should become a routine element of treatment. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of dietary habits on the course of schizophrenia and MS, cognitive performance, symptom severity, and subjective assessment of eating behaviors in schizophrenia patients. Total of 87 participants (63.2% women) aged 19 to 67 years (M = 41.67; SD = 12.87), of whom 60 met the IDF criteria for MS, completed the PANSS, the verbal fluency test, the Stroop Color-Word Test, and the digit span task, followed by a thorough nutritional interview. There were no significant differences in the dietary behaviors between investigated schizophrenia patients with and without comorbid MS. Interestingly, their eating habits compared quite favorably to those described in the literature. No associations were found between positive eating habits and other tested variables in patients with MS. They were, however, linked to lower PANSS scores in the entire sample. In addition, positive eating habits correlated with better cognitive performance and a more adequate subjective assessment of dietary habits. It would be amiss to assume that schizophrenia patients lack the ability to control their eating behaviors. Nutrition education may foster desirable dietary changes and improve the sense of agency, thus helping to reduce symptom severity and enhancing cognitive performance in this patient population.

Regulation of Reactive Oxygen Species-Mediated Damage in the Pathogenesis of Schizophrenia

“…Moreover, nutritional deficiencies are identified as risk factors for psychiatric disorders [ 283 ]. Patients were more likely to have an irregular eating schedule, eat instant meals, and drink more coffee than controls in a study of 194 subjects [ 284 ]. People with schizophrenia also smoke four more cigarettes per day on average than controls [ 284 ].…”

“…Patients were more likely to have an irregular eating schedule, eat instant meals, and drink more coffee than controls in a study of 194 subjects [ 284 ]. People with schizophrenia also smoke four more cigarettes per day on average than controls [ 284 ]. Finally, a study of 159 patients with schizophrenia found 41% did not eat fruit daily, 51% ate meals in less than fifteen minutes, and 63% did not consume fish [ 285 ].…”

The Association between Lifestyle Choices and Schizophrenia Symptoms

“…They found that 13.2% of subjects exhibited abnormal feeding behaviors, which was associated with more severe positive symptoms [ 39 ]. Similarly, in a study on a sample of 87 schizophrenia patients, Adamowicz and Kucharska-Mazur indicated that less severe positive symptoms were associated with healthier eating behaviors [ 40 ].…”

Metabolic Syndrome and Dietary Habits in Hospitalized Patients with Schizophrenia: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Therefore, our results are fully consistent with those of the previously conducted studies that have shown poor dietary habits among patients with schizophrenia [ 10 , 20 , 21 ]. The vast majority of the available studies compared dietary habits of patients with schizophrenia to the general population; while only two, according to our knowledge, examined the differences in their dietary habits depending on MetS presence [ 22 , 23 ]. In the mentioned studies, and similar to our findings, dietary habits of those participants with and without MetS were very similar, even though it was assumed that they would significantly differ.…”

“…Similarly, as reported by Parletta et al [ 10 ], people with serious mental illness in the Western countries tend to consume significantly lower amounts of high-quality foods, while unhealthy foods are consumed in higher amounts. Despite the aforementioned studies, and to the best of our knowledge, only two previous studies compared dietary habits of patients with schizophrenia with and without MetS, and found no significant differences [ 22 , 23 ], except for some of the applied culinary methods [ 23 ].…”