How Does a Suicide Attempter Eat Differently From Others? Comparison of Macronutrient Intakes

Objective: Issues of the subtle effects of diet and nutrition on suicidal behaviors are rarely examined. This study describes the differences in dietary intakes of macronutrients between individuals who had ever made a suicide attempt and those who never had.

Methods: We examined the data of 7631 non-institutionalized adults ages 17 to 39 y who completed a mental disorder diagnostic interview and a 24-h dietary recall as a part of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988 to 1994. Multivariable adjusted means of daily caloric intake and energy percentage from macronutrients were calculated for individuals who had a history of lifetime suicide attempt(s) (n = 408) and compared with those who did not.

Results: After adjustment for covariates, including socioeconomic indicators, health risk factors, and history of medical and psychiatric illnesses, we observed that the means of daily caloric intake, cholesterol, and energy percentages from carbohydrate, total fat, saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, and protein did not differ significantly between attempters and non-attempters. However, energy percentage from polyunsaturated fat was lower in attempters than in non-attempters. Mean percentages ± standard error for smoking attempters, non-smoking attempters, smoking non-attempters, and non-smoking non-attempters were 5.5 ± 0.4 (P = 0.01), 6.7 ± 0.2 (P = 0.02), 7.5 ± 1.4 (P = 0.78), and 7.2 ± 0.1 (reference), respectively, in men, and 6.3 ± 0.4 (P = 0.01), 7.2 ± 0.2 (P = 0.07), 7.3 ± 1.0 (P = 0.89), and 7.5 ± 0.1 (reference), respectively, in women. Dietary fiber intake was also lower in attempters than in non-attempters. These differences were independent of daily caloric intake.

Conclusions: Individuals with a history of suicide attempt have low intakes of polyunsaturated fat and fiber. Potential deleterious effects of low intake of polyunsaturated fat and fiber among suicide attempters merit further investigation.