Effect of Nutritional Counseling on Anthropometry and Biomarkers in Patients Diagnosed With Schizophrenia/Psychosis or Bipolar Affective Disorder

Overview

The goal of this clinical trial is to compare the effect of nutritional counseling versus no treatment in patients with schizophenia or bipolar affective disorder. The main question it aims to answer are: • Can nutritional counseling have a preventive effect on the development of cardiovascular disease in patients with schizophenia or bipolar affective disorder? Participants will meet a nutritionist at baseline to asess nutritional status, biochemical and anthropometric measurements. Then, half of the study population will receive nutritional counseling. After six weeks, the same baseline measurements will be repeated to examine any potential differences between the two groups. After the intervention, the control group will be offered the same counseling as the intervention group received during the study.

People with severe mental illness have a shorter life expectancy compared to the general population. Individuals with schizophrenia or bipolar affective disorder have an estimated reduce life expectancy by an average of 10-20 years. Increased mortality is caused by many factors, but cardiovascular diseases contributes the most. Increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease is mainly due to a poor lifestyle, which includes smoking, physical inactivity and an unhealthy diet. It is important to find treatment that can provide better quality of life and longer life expectancy in these patient groups. Few clinical studies have been conducted on the effect of nutritional counseling on biochemical and anthropometric measurements related to cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, we want to investigate this through a randomized controlled trial.