Dietary habits of patients in the schizophrenic spectrum

The thesis deals with the dietary habits of schizophrenic patients and the effect of anti- inflammatory food on the levels of inflammatory markers in the blood. Patients suffering from schizophrenia are observed to have poorer eating habits compared to healthy controls. These patients are more likely to consume saturated and trans unsaturated fatty acids and less likely to include fruit and vegetables, unsaturated fatty acids or fibre in their diet. At the same time these patients have a higher consumption of foods involved in promoting chronic inflammation and thus possibly worsening the symptoms of the disease. The aim of this study is to evaluate the dietary habits of schizophrenic patients using a semi-quantitative frequency questionnaire and to compare them with a control group without a psychiatric diagnosis. Furthermore, based on the findings from the DII to select foods from the questionnaire that contain components of or are themselves included in the anti-inflammatory food index and to determine whether the frequency of consumption of these foods correlates with blood levels of inflammatory markers. According to the results of this work the diet of schizophrenic patients can be considered less healthy compared to the control group due to lower consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables,..