The medical records of seven women and four men with Huntington's disease and compared them to the medical records of 13 control patients (five men) matched for sex and age. height, length of hospital stay, and psychiatric medications administered. All patients were in the hospital (Riverview Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) continuously from their initial admission until the time their records were evaluated. Body weight records were analyzed over the period spent in hospital. The average 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 file. The assumption was that the diets had all been received and consumed as ordered. For the purposes of analysis, diets were grouped into three categories: general; reduce; and double portions. The general diet contained approximately 2,200 kcal per day. Feeds were presented as regular, pureed, chopped, high roughage, low residue, high protein, or soft. Reducing diets came in similar forms, but were between 1,200 and 1,800 kcal. The double-serving diet provided approximately 4,400 kcal. At the time of admission, there was virtually no difference in the type of diet given 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 reduced diets. Analysis of the last third of the hospitalization period revealed that approximately half of the patients in both groups followed a general diet. The other patients in the control group were on a reduced diet, and those with Huntington's disease were on a double-serving diet. During this period, only one patient with Huntington's disease followed a reducing diet (1,800 kcal). There was essentially no difference in the shape of the diet for each group. During the second half of the hospitalization period, almost all patients in both groups received puree. thin or soft forms of their diet. It was found that about half of the patients in each group gained weight after being admitted to hospital. This likely reflected poor dietary intake prior to admission. Although the amount of weight gained did not differ between groups, it appeared that Huntington's disease patients reached their maximum body weight much earlier than controls. Although some patients with Huntington's disease quickly gained weight after admission,