2022 Volume 2 Issue 1 Pages 28-35
Nutritional therapy for patients with eating disorder is initiated in an ambulatory, emergency outpatient, intensive care or inpatient setting, with an overarching focus from early on in their treatment course on nutritional guidance, improvement of malnutrition, and weight recovery. Patients with anorexia nervosa are often found to be low carbohydrate diet, which is among the factors accounting for decreased energy intake in these patients, with no consensus reached on the lower limit for minimum carbohydrate intake. On the other hand, excessive intake of animal products, e.g., beef, pork and chicken, is shown to be associated with increased mortality risk. Patients with bulimia are often shown to be focused on curbing binge eating or self-induced vomiting or misuse of laxatives or diuretics, i.e., purging, while diet restriction can worsen binge eating or vomiting in these patients. Therefore, it is important to note that nutritional guidance should focus on encouraging affected patients to adhere to regular and appropriate meal portions and that managerial dietitians have an essential role in treatment planning for these patients.
