Dietary habits of patients with schizophrenia: A self‐reported questionnaire survey

Abstract

The present study was carried out to determine the dietary habits of patients with schizophrenia and the influence of these habits on the degree of obesity. The study was developed in a sample of 159 patients, who were given a self-reported questionnaire, to ascertain the influence of socio-familiar aspects, pharmacological treatment, and dietary habits. Anthropometric measurements (body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC)) were also taken. Patients with schizophrenia presented unhealthy dietary habits, as indicated by the finding that 51% of the patients took no longer than 15 min to eat, 40.8% did not eat fruit daily, and 63.1% did not eat fish. Women were three times more likely to be obese than men (odds ratio (OR) = 2.91, P = 0.021). Patients classified as having unhealthy dietary habits have a 2.33-fold higher risk of obesity than patients with good dietary habits (OR = 2.33, P = 0.034). In summary, this paper highlights the fact that patients with schizophrenia have a detrimental dietary pattern that is associated with an increase in BMI and WC, with the consequent development of obesity and related metabolic alterations, regardless of the pharmacological treatment being followed. Future research directions will include exploring the need for nutritional education programmes to improve the dietary habits of such patients.

Master’s level mental health nursing competencies, a prerequisite for equal health among service users in mental health care

“…The prevalence of poor physical health and health behaviours in people with enduring mental health difficulties far exceed that which is observed in the general population owing to risk factors as cigarette smoking, obesity leading to dyslipidaemia, insulin resistance as well as diabetes, and hypertension (De Hert, Schreurs, & Vancampfort et al, 2009; Gothefors, Adolfsson, & Attvall et al, 2010; Simonelli-Muñoz, Fortea, & Salorio et al, 2012). Schizophrenia is associated with premature mortality with unclear causes mainly because of avoidable lifestyle related to ischaemic heart disease and cancer.…”

“…More than two-thirds of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia, compared with approximately one-half in the general population, die of coronary heart disease (Crump, Winkleby, & Sundquist et al, 2013). People with a diagnosis of schizophrenia often, for a variety of reasons, have unhealthy dietary habits, as indicated by the findings of the study of Simonelli-Muñoz et al (2012), which show that 51% of the participants took no longer than 15 min to eat, 40.8% did not eat fruit daily, and 63.1% did not eat fish. These dietary patterns are often combined with a low frequency of physical activity low self-estimated general state of health (Lassenius, Åkerlind, & Wiklund-Gustin et al, 2013), associated with an increase in body mass index, waist circumference and development of obesity with related metabolic alterations (Simonelli-Muñoz et al, 2012).…”

“…People with a diagnosis of schizophrenia often, for a variety of reasons, have unhealthy dietary habits, as indicated by the findings of the study of Simonelli-Muñoz et al (2012), which show that 51% of the participants took no longer than 15 min to eat, 40.8% did not eat fruit daily, and 63.1% did not eat fish. These dietary patterns are often combined with a low frequency of physical activity low self-estimated general state of health (Lassenius, Åkerlind, & Wiklund-Gustin et al, 2013), associated with an increase in body mass index, waist circumference and development of obesity with related metabolic alterations (Simonelli-Muñoz et al, 2012). Poor dietary patterns may be due to a combination of financial shortcomings and lack of skills in food preparation in spite of motivation to improve health (Hardy & Gray, 2012).…”

Etiopathogenesis of metabolic syndrome in schizophrenia – recent findings

“…U svakom slučaju, čini se da prehrana pacijenata sa shizofrenijom značajno odudara od kardioprotektivne mediteranske prehrane. Brojna istraživa-nja pokazala su da oboljeli od shizofrenije prehranom uglavnom unose značajno manju količinu vlakana, folata, PUFA i MUFA, a puno više zasićenih masnoća i kalorija u odnosu na pripadnike opće populacije 39,[63][64][65][66] . Nije naodmet spomenuti da su u pacijenata sa shizofrenijom uočene i zanimljive razlike u značajkama prehrane između spolova; primjerice, pojedine studije pokazale su da su muškarci skloniji nezdravom načinu prehrane negoli žene, koji uključuje, između ostalog, smanjen unos voća, povrća i mlijeka te pojačanu konzumaciju alkohola 39,63,66 .…”

Stakeholders' views about nutrition education

“…Multifactorial causes for these co-morbid health problems are reported, including smoking (Phutane et al, 2011), leading a sedentary lifestyle (Shiers et al, 2009;Lotufo, 2012) and a poor diet (Appelhans et al;. In populations with complex health needs, detailed analysis of food intake uncovers specific unhealthy eating habits including: high sugar (Appelhans et al; and caffeine intake; low fibre, fruit and vegetable intake; and regularly missing meals (Simonelli-Muñoz et al, 2012); micronutrient deficiencies (Williamson et al, 2015) and poor diet literacy (Hardy and Gray, 2012).…”