The medical records of seven female and four male patients with Huntington's disease and compared them with the medical records of 13 control patients (five males) matched for sex and age. length of hospital stay and psychiatric medications administered. All patients were hospitalized (Riverview Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) continuously from their initial admission until their medical records were assessed. Body weight records during the time spent in hospital were analysed. The mean length of stay for Huntington's patients was 9.4 years + 0.1.7, compared to 9.5 years + 1.6 for controls. The diets evaluated were those prescribed by the doctor in the medical record. The assumption was that all diets were received and consumed as ordered. For the purposes of the analysis, diets were grouped into three categories: general; reduce; and double portions. The general diet contained approximately 2200 kcal per day. Food was presented in plain, pureed, ground, high-fiber, low-residue, high-protein, or soft forms. Reducing diets were presented in similar forms, but consisted of an intake between 1200 and 1800 kcal. The double-serving diet provided approximately 4400 kcal. At the time of admission there were essentially no differences in the type of diet administered to the two groups of patients. All Huntington's disease patients and 11 of the control patients followed a general diet. The other two control patients were fed reducing diets. When the last third of their time in hospital was analysed, it was found that around half of the patients in both groups were on a general diet. The remaining patients in the control group followed a reducing diet, while those with Huntington's disease followed a double-portion diet. During this period only one patient with Huntington's disease followed a reducing diet (1800 kcal). There were essentially no differences in the form of the diet for each group. In the last half of the hospital stay, almost all patients in both groups were given a puree. chop up the soft forms of their diet. About half of the patients in each group were found to gain body weight after hospitalization. This likely reflected poor dietary intake before admission. Although the amount of weight gained did not differ between the groups, it appeared that the Huntington's disease patients reached maximum body weight much earlier than the controls. Although some patients with Huntington's disease rapidly gained body weight after hospitalization,