Dietary Factors Associated with Obesity in Patients with Schizophrenia Living at Home

Since a fact-finding survey was conducted in 2004 all over Japan on the eating habits of psychiatric patients living at home, and the results showed that 44.6% of the patients were obese. We carried out a study of dietary factors associated with obesity in patients with schizophrenia living at home in order to develop a dietary education program. Twenty obese patients and 20 non-obese patients were randomly selected from 30 50s male patients with schizophrenia in one mental hospital. Dietary survey of 3-non-consecutive-day was conducted. Eighteen obese patients and 17 non-obese patients completed the survey. The obese patients had significantly higher intake of carbohydrate (P = 0.02), consumption of snacks with junk foods (P = 0.04), and intake of energy from snacks (P < 0.001) than those of non-obese patients. Based on this dietary survey, it becomes necessary to focus on snacks, in addition to basic focus on balanced diet to prevent further obesity in those schizophrenic patients.