Objective: To determine whether eating patterns differ between patients with endoscopically determined functional dyspepsia and non-dyspeptic controls.
Design: Case-control study (50 per group). A seven-day record of food consumption with time of food consumption was determined.
Setting: Endoscopy clinic, St. James' Hospital and the Clinical Nutrition Laboratory at the Trinity College Medical School.
Main outcome measures: Meal eating pattern and their temporal distribution; consumption of food categories and their temporal distribution; data for all subjects and for employed vs unemployed subjects.
Results: There was no evidence to suggest that the pattern of food and meal intake throughout the day was in any way influenced by endoscopically determined functional dyspepsia.
Conclusion: The widely held belief that patients with functional dyspepsia eat differently to healthy controls to relieve or prevent symptoms of dyspepsia is not supported by these findings.