The Japanese journal of neuropsychology

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ArticleTitle	Eating behaviors in patients with dementia in their daily life
Language	J
AuthorList	Manabu Ikeda
Affiliation	Department of Neuropsychiatry, Ehime University School of Medicine
Publication	Japanese Journal of Neuropsychology: 21 (2), 98-109, 2005
Received
Accepted
Abstract	Despite numerous reports of changes in satiety, food preference, and eating habits in patients with dementia, there have been very few systematic studies. To investigate the frequency of changing in eating behaviors in Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), Semantic dementia (SD), and Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to investigate the sequence of development of abnormal eating behaviors in three types of dementia, newly developed questionnaire was administered to caregivers. We also compare Japanese patients with Western patients in these behaviors. Three groups of patients in Cambridge were involved in the study: FTD (n=23), SD (n=25), and AD (n=43). Level of education and dementia severity was similar in the three groups. The questionnaire consisted of 36 questions investigating five domains: swallowing problems, appetite change, food preference, eating habits, and other oral behaviors. Three groups of patients in Ehime were also investigated by the same questionnaire. The frequencies of all symptoms except swallowing problems, were significantly higher in FTD than in AD, and changes in food preference and eating habits were greater in SD than in AD. Japanese patients showed very similar pattern to Western patients. In SD, the developmental pattern was very clear: a change in food preference developed initially, followed by appetite increase and altered eating habits, other oral behaviors, and finally swallowing problems. In FTD, the first symptom was altered eating habits or appetite increase. In AD, the pattern was not clear although swallowing problems developed even in relatively early stages. Change in eating behaviors was significantly more common in FTD and SD groups than in AD group. These behaviors might be not due to cultural factors but due to biological factors. It is likely that the changing in eating behaviors reflects the involvement of a common network in both FTD and SD- namely, the ventral (orbitobasal) frontal lobe, temporal pole, and amygdala.
Keywords	dementia, eating behavior, frontotemporal dementia, semantic dementia, Alzheimer's disease