Dietary Habits in Functional Dyspepsia

Jung, Woo Kil; Kim, Jung Hoon; Kim, Young Sik

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Dyspepsia is a common symptom and bacause functional dyspepsia is a heterogeneous disorder its pathophysiology is not well established. We need to conceptualize in a so called "biopsychosocial model". Many Koreans tend to consider the importance of dietary habits in causes and treatment of diseases and actually many physicians recommend dietary modification for patients of functional dyspepsia. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to determine if dietary habits was associated with functional dyspepsia.
METHODS
Functional dyspepsia was defined and classified by Rome II criteria. This study was performed by case and control method at the outpatient department of family medicine of six university hospitals in Seoul. Self-administered questionnaire for the demographic characteristics and dietary habits were performed in 472 functional dyspeptic patients and 236 normal controls.
RESULTS
Only the economic status among the demographic factors was associated with functional dyspepsia and on the dietary factors. The functional dyspeptic patients reported less than 2 days regular eating for one week (OR=2.01, P=0.019, 95% CI: 1.12~3.60) and more than 3 days overeating for one week (OR= 2.01, P=0.020, 95% CI: 1.12~3.63), but no significant difference was found in the daily eating frequency, meal duration, frequency of spicy food comsumption, and breakfast.
CONCLUSIONS
Functional dyspepsia was associated with irregular eating patterns and overeating behavior for one week. To prevent functional dyspepsia behavioral modification such as eating regularly and avoiding overeating should be advised.