Dietary trends in patients with fecal incontinence compared with the National Health and Nutrition Survey

Objectives: Dietary guidance for patients with fecal incontinence (FI) in Japan is lacking. Here, we sought to investigate dietary trends of patients with FI. Methods: We performed a comparative study of dietary intake par day between patients with FI and the national mean. Our study group consisted of 100 female patients who consulted a dietitian about meals between June 2015 and March 2017. For national mean values, we used results from 3,332 women included in the 2015 National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHNS). Survey items included dietary fiber (DF), rice, wheat products, vegetables, fruits, and snacks. Results: No significant difference with respect to the overall DF (14.2 and 14.5 g, respectively; P=0.517) and vegetables (277.0 and 282.7 g, respectively; P=0.692) consumption was observed between the intake values reported in patients with FI and in NHNS. The intake of patients with FI was significantly lesser than that reported in NHNS for rice consumption (184.3 and 262.1 g, respectively; P<0.001). The intake of patients with FI was significantly higher than that reported in NHNS for wheat products (116.0 and 97.1 g, respectively; P<0.001), fruits (151.3 and 116.7 g, respectively; P=0.002), and snacks (45.5 and 28.8 g, respectively; P<0.001) consumption. Conclusions: Dietary trends for patients with FI revealed that the intake of rice was less, whereas that of wheat products, fruits, and snacks was much higher. Although the overall DF intake was about the same as the national mean, our results suggest that contents of DF differ between patients with FI and the NHNS.