What are the dietary taboos for liver disease?

The first dietary taboo for patients with liver disease is all alcoholic drinks, followed by moldy foods, high-fat and high-sugar foods, and processed and pickled foods. Patients with decompensated cirrhosis who are at risk of hepatic encephalopathy must also strictly control the intake of large amounts of animal protein at one time.

I have been doing charity follow-up work for liver patients in the community for almost 6 years, and I have seen too many cases of people who have fallen into the trap of eating. Last year, there was a 42-year-old patient with hepatitis B and cirrhosis. All his indicators were usually stable. At the class reunion at the end of the year, he felt that drinking two glasses of cold beer was no big deal, so he drank half a bottle. When he returned, he felt nauseated and fatigued. When he checked, his bilirubin tripled, and he was hospitalized for two weeks before he recovered. In fact, whether it is white wine, red wine or the popular low-alcohol fruit wine and sparkling wine, as long as it contains alcohol, it must be metabolized by the liver after entering the human body. The acetaldehyde produced is a clear hepatotoxic carcinogen. For the liver that has been damaged, there is no such thing as a "safe intake", and it is safest not to drink alcohol at all.

What you need to be more vigilant about than alcohol is moldy food, which you really can’t touch. Many old people are frugal, picking out the bad parts of nuts before eating them when they are bitter, and washing moldy rice noodles several times before putting them in the pot. In fact, the aflatoxin inside has already spread. This toxin is 68 times more toxic than arsenic. Even a small amount of ingestion will directly damage liver cells and greatly increase the risk of liver cancer. If there are liver disease patients in the family, it is best to buy grains and nuts in small quantities and multiple times. If you find something is wrong, just throw the whole bag away. Don’t be reluctant to give up the small amount of money.

Nowadays, everyone's living conditions have improved, but many people are stuck on a high-fat and high-sugar diet. Many people think that if their liver is not good, they need to take more supplements. They stew fatty meat every day, drink thick broth, or order takeaways that are heavy in oil and salt. Some young patients always drink sweet milk tea and eat cream cakes. After eating these things, the liver has to work hard to metabolize excess fat and sugar. The diseased liver cannot handle it at all. Over time, it will easily merge with fatty liver, which will worsen the condition. There are also processed and pickled foods such as bacon, sausages, and pickles. The nitrites and preservatives in them will also increase the metabolic burden on the liver. Eat as little as possible or preferably not at all.

There are many controversial opinions on the Internet. For example, some people say that if your liver is not good, you should not touch beef, mutton, seafood and other "fatty foods". You can't even eat eggs. You must go vegetarian to maintain your liver function. In fact, this statement is too absolute. I have met many patients who have been vegetarian for half a year. As a result, their albumin is extremely low and they have no raw materials for liver cell repair. As long as the liver function is in a stable stage and there are no problems such as allergies or high uric acid, eating lean beef, deep-sea fish, and eggs in moderation can supplement high-quality protein and help the liver repair, so there is no need to completely avoid these foods. However, if you have reached the decompensated stage of liver cirrhosis and have suffered from hepatic encephalopathy, you should be careful not to eat too much animal protein at one time. For example, eating half a pound of braised pork or a whole plate of braised beef in one meal can easily lead to dangerous increases in blood ammonia.

In fact, there is no need to stress too much. Not eating anything can lead to malnutrition. As long as you avoid the minefields mentioned above, a balanced diet is good for recovery. There was a 29-year-old fatty liver patient who gave up drinking. He replaced his daily milk tea with warm boiled water and took out takeaways with home-cooked meals of one meat and one vegetable with less oil. He reversed his fatty liver disease in half a year. Actually, it is not that difficult.