Eating Behavior, Food Craving and Relation to Excessive Weight Gain in Patients Submitted to Liver Transplantation

Excessive weight gain, obesity and metabolic syndrome are highly prevalent in patients undergoing liver transplantation. Traditional methods of assessing dietary intake have failed to demonstrate an association between these problems and dietary intake. Patients with an indication for transplantation due to ethanolic cirrhosis, ex-smokers and those with a previous history of overweight were identified as being at greater risk for overweight and metabolic syndrome, and these factors may be related to the change in eating behavior after the operation. Objective: To evaluate the eating behavior, the occurrence of food craving and relation to weight gain, overweight and obesity after liver transplantation. Method: This is a cross-sectional study in which adult and elderly patients in follow-up at the Hepatic Transplant Outpatient Clinic of the Alpha Institute of Gastroenterology of the Federal University of Minas Gerais were evaluated for eating behavior and food craving. The evaluation of the eating behavior was performed with the help of the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire-R21 (TFEQ-R21), translated version and validated for Portuguese. Food Craving Questionnaires State (FCQ-S) and Trait (FCQ-T) and the Brazilian Inventory of Foods Related to Craving (FCI-Br) were used in the translated and validated versions for Portuguese. Demographic, lifestyle, clinical and anthropometric variables of the evaluated patients were obtained through electronic medical records. Weight gain was assessed by the difference between the current weight and the first post-transplant outpatient weight.