Diet for Liver Diseases
The liver is body’s largest internal organ, does many important things including:
- Removes waste from the body
- Makes bile to help digest food
- Stores sugar that the body uses for energy
- Makes new proteins etc
Cirrhosis is a long-term (chronic) liver disease, when scar tissue replaces healthy liver tissue. This stops the liver from working normally. In severe cases, the liver gets so badly damaged that it stops working. This is called liver failure.
Common causes:
- Hepatitis
- Alcohol abuse
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (can happens from metabolic syndrome)
- Autoimmune disorders, where the body’s infection-fighting system (immune system) attacks healthy tissue
- Blocked bile ducts that carry bile from the liver to the intestine
- Use of certain medicines or exposure to certain toxic chemicals
- Repeated episodes of heart failure with blood build-up in the liver
- Parasite infections
Symptoms may include:
- Fluid build-up in the abdomen area (ascites)
- Vomiting blood, often from bleeding in oesophagus
- Itching
- Yellowing of the skin and eyes (jaundice)
- Skin pigmentation
- Muscle loss
- Loss of appetite
- Easy bruising
- Spider-like veins in the skin
- Low energy and weakness (fatigue)
- Weight loss
- Confusion as toxins build up in the blood
Treatment
The goal of treatment is to slow down the build-up of scar tissue and prevent or treat any complications that happen.
Protein-calorie malnutrition and other nutritional deficiencies is a common condition to all stages of chronic liver disease. Early recognition of deficiencies is essential, as it can reduce the risk of complications. Malnutrition is a potentially reversible condition that, when identified and treated appropriately, can lead to improvement of the outcomes of patients with CLD.
- Eating a healthy diet, low in sodium
- Not having alcohol or illegal drugs
- Treatments may be specific to your cause of cirrhosis, such as controlling excessive iron or copper levels through medicine and diet
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RD Smita Nanda
Nutrition Consultant