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How to manage diet for liver cirrhosis?
If a person is losing weight, the daily caloric intake should be about 2,000 calories; otherwise, the caloric intake should be about 1,400 calories. For a balanced diet, the caloric intake should be distributed as follows:
Proteins: 15%
Carbohydrates: 55%
Fats: 30%
Some proteins will create ammonia, that can not be broken down by liver. Animal proteins are also high in fats, and bio-available iron. The best compromised is reached by proteins derived from low or no fat milk, hard boiled eggs, Tofu and beans/legumes.
Most of the calories are derived from carbohydrates, present in grains, vegetables and fruits. One does not need to omit green leafy vegetables for fear of iron build up. The vegetables have low bio availability of iron. The grains must be whole grains such as wholegrain breads, and brown rice. B-vitamins are have increased demand to repair some of the liver damage.
Fats are digested by liver. With cirrhosis this ability is almost lost, so is the ability to metabolize fat soluble vitamins such A, D, E, and K. Liver can still digest some medium chain triglycerides. Safflower oil can be used on limited basis.
B-vitamins, C & E vitamins have been found to be very useful.
Following guidelines will be useful
1. Avoid Alcohol use.
2. Avoid shellfish
3. Drink 2 to 3 cups of coffee per day. The latest studies have found coffee to be very useful. The coffee should be fresh brewed and not made from instant.
4. Reduce salt intake to about 2,000 mg of sodium.
5. Reduce iron build up by not cooking in iron cookware, and red meats.
6. Reduce copper build up by avoiding chocolate, nuts, shellfish and mushrooms
7. Use Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT oils) and safflower oil for cooking. The best example of MCT oil is Fractionated coconut oil.
8. Eat one hard boiled egg per day. It has many B vitamins (including Choline and Lecithin) that have been found useful to regenerate some of the liver tissues.
9. To reduce Ammonia, decrease protein intake specially the red meats.