What dietary taboos should be noted for liver disease?

The first three categories that all patients with liver disease must avoid are alcohol, moldy and spoiled food, and health products/recipes with unknown ingredients, without any exception. I treated a patient with chronic hepatitis B last year. After taking antiviral drugs for ten years, his liver function was very stable. On National Day, he went back to his hometown and ate two pieces of homemade molded tofu that had been stored for three or four days. When he came back, he developed jaundice and was hospitalized. Aflatoxin in moldy food is a clear first-class liver carcinogen. Even if you only eat a little bit, it is a highly toxic substance that is difficult to metabolize for the already damaged liver, not to mention alcohol. Whether it is liquor, beer, alcoholic beverages, or even stews with a lot of cooking wine, the acetaldehyde produced by metabolism will directly destroy liver cells. The liver is already busy repairing inflammation. If you feed it poisonous drugs, no matter how good the medicine is, it will not be able to suppress the condition.

As for other dietary taboos that people often argue about, there is actually no unified standard at all. For example, some people say that people with liver disease must not eat animal protein and must be vegetarian, while others say that they must eat more meat to replenish nutrients. Both opinions are actually correct, but they are targeted at different groups: if they are ordinary hepatitis or fatty liver patients, and their liver function is stable, they should ensure that they eat enough high-quality proteins such as eggs, lean meat, and milk every day to help the liver repair. I have seen several patients with fatty liver eat boiled vegetables every day in order to reduce oil, but they are low in protein and weak, and their liver function cannot be reduced for several months. ； But if you have progressed to decompensated liver cirrhosis, or even have a history of hepatic encephalopathy, you must strictly control your intake of animal protein, otherwise it will be very dangerous if your blood ammonia rises.

Some people say that if you have liver disease, you must not eat spicy food or seafood. In fact, as long as you don't have basic diseases such as gastric ulcer and gout, you won't feel uncomfortable eating it and there is no need to avoid it at all. I have a patient in Chongqing with mild fatty liver. I asked him to eat less oil and less sugar, but he added some chili pepper every time. After six months of review, the indicators were all normal. As long as the food is not heavy with oil and spicy food, which burdens the gastrointestinal tract, this spicy food will not cause trouble to the liver at all. On the contrary, many people focus on these insignificant taboos and taboos. They cannot eat well every day and their immunity is weakened, which is not good for the recovery of liver disease.

In fact, after so many years of explaining diet to patients with liver disease, I have always felt that there is no need to be too strict and avoid those three types of things that are definitely harmful to the liver. The rest can be adjusted according to your own condition and physical sensation. It is much more reliable than following the various taboo lists on the Internet.