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 Registered dietician nutritionists could help patients at addiction
recovery centers think about the ways food affects mental health,
eating disorders and cravings, a team of authors argues in the
Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Nutrition therapy could include cooking classes, mindful eating, and
exploration of food fads and myths, they suggest.
“There really hasn’t been much conversation about substance use
disorders and nutrition, unfortunately,” said lead study author
David Wiss in email to Reuters Health.
Wiss, a registered dietician nutritionist, is the founder of
Nutrition in Recovery LLC in Beverly Hills, California, which
focuses on incorporating nutritionists into treatment centers.
About 21 million Americans ages 12 or older - or 8 percent - meet
criteria for substance use disorder, according to the Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Poor nutrition and
eating disorders are often secondary health effects that stem from
substance abuse, both during use and after recovery.
Wiss and his coauthors Maria Schellenberger, of the University of
Southern California at Los Angeles, and Michael Prelip, of the
University of California, Los Angeles, point out that in 1990, the
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics published a position paper
supporting the need for nutrition intervention in treatment and
recovery from addiction.
The academy described registered dietitian nutritionists as
essential members of the treatment team, but, “Unfortunately, the
position paper had little impact, was not renewed, and limited
progress has occurred in incorporating (these professional) into
drug rehabilitation programs despite the continued growth of
substance abuse,” Wiss, Schellenberger and Prelip write.
They say weekly group sessions on emotional eating and eating for
mental health could focus on dietary deficiencies that alter mental
status and ways to combat them with healthy food. They also suggest
talking about the harms of inflammation, caffeine, and nicotine, as
well as the benefits of anti-inflammatory foods, fiber, slow and
mindful eating, and exercise.
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Hands-on nutrition classes covering easy recipes, snack preparation,
grocery shopping, and budgeting may help addicts transition to a
healthy life at home after leaving the treatment center, they
suggest.
At the same time, the efficacy of nutrition interventions in
substance use disorder treatment settings is unproven.
“Unfortunately, this type of data is difficult to obtain given the
small sample sizes at treatment centers, presence of confounding
variables and poor patient follow-up,” Wiss said.
“Given the high relapse rates with available treatments, it’s
obviously important to investigate the effect of unconventional
approaches on substance abuse problems,” said Dr. Fatih Canan of the
University of Louisville School of Medicine in Kentucky. Canan, who
wasn’t involved with this study, researches eating disorders and
food addiction as it relates to substance abuse.
Canan is planning a study on food addiction treatment and relapse
rates in patients with opioid use disorder. Future studies that
evaluate different kinds of diets for patients with different
substance abuse disorders may help, he said.
“The treatment of substance use disorders is complicated and
multifaceted,” Canan told Reuters Health by email. “Nutritional
interventions can be of help for certain patients.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2klgCmO Journal of the Academy of Nutrition
and Dietetics, online November 6, 2017.
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