title: Nutritional status and dietary habits in Parkinson's disease patients in Ghana.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Dietary treatment is important for the management of Parkinson's disease (PD). Our objective was to describe the dietary habits and assess the nutritional status of Ghanaian patients with PD. This study is part of a larger project, for which Ghana has been selected as a pilot country.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-five Ghanaian patients with PD and 12 healthy Ghanaian controls were recruited. We assessed nutritional status, investigated dietary habits, and assessed the prevalence of the nutritional complications of PD (e.g., constipation and dysphagia).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean daily caloric intake was about 1200 kcal/d in patients with PD and in controls. The typical diet was based on semisolid foods, usually vegetable soups accompanied by cereal flour or root starch or sometimes chicken or fish. The intake of milk and its derivatives was low. The prevalences of constipation and dysphagia in patients with PD were 49% and 21%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study has yielded information that could be useful for the study of the management of PD and for the assessment of response to therapy.
authors: Parkinson Institute, Istituti Clinici di Perfezionamento, Milan, Italy.
authors: Michela
authors: M
authors: Barichella
authors: Albert
authors: A
authors: Akpalu
authors: Momodou
authors: M
authors: Cham
authors: Giulia
authors: G
authors: Privitera
authors: Erica
authors: E
authors: Cassani
authors: Emanuele
authors: E
authors: Cereda
authors: Laura
authors: L
authors: Iorio
authors: Roberto
authors: R
authors: Cilia
authors: Alba
authors: A
authors: Bonetti
authors: Gianni
authors: G
authors: Pezzoli
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003248:Constipation / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003680:Deglutition Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002523:Edible Grain; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005869:Ghana / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009752:Nutritional Status; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015995:Prevalence; D014675:Vegetables