How to care for hepatitis

Patient's question:

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From Shaanxi,


Thank you to the doctor for answering my question quickly – How should I treat and prevent this?

Doctor's answer:

Hello,
1. The dietary principles for patients with cirrhosis require a low-fat diet. If excessive fat is consumed, it not only makes digestion and absorption difficult but also directly worsens the condition. Animal fat should be consumed as little as possible. To ensure a low-fat diet, cooking methods should primarily be steaming, boiling, braising, stewing, and poaching, and fried foods should be eaten as little as possible or avoided.
2. When cirrhosis patients have esophageal varices, the diet should be soft and easy to digest. Avoid foods that are too hot or high in rough fiber, such as celery and bean sprouts. Foods with bones, spines, or any hard textures should be avoided to prevent tearing esophageal blood vessels and causing acute bleeding. Cirrhosis patients often experience symptoms such as abdominal distension, poor appetite, and indigestion. Therefore, the daily diet should be as varied as possible, with food prepared to be soft, tender, and easy to digest. Additionally, maintaining a positive mood, emotional optimism, and engaging in physical activities as much as possible are also very important for recovery.
3. The dietary principles for cirrhosis patients: Multiple vitamins directly participate in liver metabolism. Therefore, cirrhosis patients should have a comprehensive and abundant intake of vitamins. B vitamins play a significant physiological role in promoting digestion, increasing appetite, protecting the liver, and preventing fatty liver. Vitamin C can enhance the resistance of liver cells, promote liver cell regeneration and glycogen synthesis, improve metabolism, and have diuretic, detoxifying, jaundice-reducing, and transaminase-lowering effects. Therefore, cirrhosis patients should frequently consume fresh vegetables and fruits to ensure vitamin intake and meet the body's needs.
4. Cirrhosis reduces the liver's ability to regulate blood sugar, making low blood sugar more common. Therefore, the dietary principles for cirrhosis patients require supplementing with sugar. Patients should moderately supplement sugar. In addition to three meals a day, sweet pastries should be added between meals. The amount of sugar and pastries should not be excessive, with 25–50 grams being appropriate per serving. Excessive sugar intake at one time can easily convert to fat in the liver, leading to fatty liver.
5. The dietary principles for cirrhosis patients: Alcohol, pepper, and other spicy foods have significant irritation and toxicity to the liver and should be avoided.
6. Due to severe liver damage in cirrhosis, liver cell regeneration and repair require sufficient protein. Therefore, cirrhosis patients should be supplied with 80–100 grams of protein daily, half of which should come from lean meat, fish, shrimp, dairy products, poultry eggs, and soy-based foods. Patients with low plasma protein leading to ascites should be given a high-protein diet.