Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is characterised by behavioural changes, including loss of insight, disinhibition, apathy, mood changes, stereotypic behaviour and abnormal eating behaviour.1 2 Although many studies have highlighted the high prevalence of alterations in food preference and eating habits in FTLD and described loss of appetite in dementia represented by Alzheimer disease (AD),3 there have been few systematic studies comparing FTLD subgroups, or contrasting AD and FTLD.1 2 4 Eating behaviours are modulated by many factors including personal habits, ethnic culture and climate, such that alteration in eating behaviour in dementias may be confounded by ethnic or cultural factors. Food culture, meal styles and customs differ substantially between Western countries and Japan. People in the UK consume considerably more sweets, and total daily calorific intakes are higher than they are for the Japanese. (Data derived from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; http://faostat.fao.org/.) Therefore, it is unclear whether altered eating behaviours of FTLD in Western cohorts are an entirely disease-specific effect or whether they are modulated by ethnic–cultural factors. The aims of this study were to investigate changes in eating behaviours in Japanese FTLD and AD patients and to compare the profile of abnormal eating behaviours in Japanese and Western patients using the same …