(Article from the WeChat public account of Hebei Traditional Chinese Medicine Liver Disease Hospital)
Many popular science articles have mentioned that for the dietary health care of patients with chronic liver disease, there are three important principles: First, do not strictly avoid diarrhea; second, ensure the intake of protein ; third, pay attention to supplementing vitamins and minerals to maintain balanced and comprehensive nutrition.
Some patients with chronic liver disease (hepatitis B, hepatitis C , etc.) have a poor appetite. If you emphasize too much food avoidance, it will lead to insufficient intake of protein and other nutrients, and protein is especially important. 
Why is protein so important?
Today, let’s talk about this topic briefly, just like to make a splash, hoping to give inspiration to the majority of patients with chronic liver disease.
01 Protein and its functions
Protein is one of the basic substances that make up human cells and tissues. It is a substance necessary for the normal growth, development, tissue renewal and repair of the human body, as well as other physiological activities.
protein is not only an important raw material for cell tissue , but also provides heat. For example, what we usually call albumin , globulin, antibodies, etc. are all proteins, and some fever-induced diseases will consume a large amount of protein.
The protein consumed by people every day must be decomposed and converted into amino acid before it can be used by people. From this point of view, the food people eat is more important to the content of protein. Ordinary foods can meet this need. There is no need to eat some high-end supplements or special animal foods to obtain protein, because they will eventually become amino acids, which can supplement protein.
There are more than 20 kinds of amino acids needed by the human body. Some amino acids can be obtained directly from food, while some must be synthesized in the liver. Protein synthesized by the liver accounts for more than 40% of the human body.
From this we can see the importance of the liver in protein metabolism and the close connection between protein and liver disease.
02Protein and liver disease
In addition to synthesizing various amino acids required by the human body, the liver can also synthesize most plasma proteins. These plasma proteins will be stored in the body after being synthesized and can be prepared at any time when needed: plasma proteins can maintain the plasma osmotic pressure of and , and can also reduce the viscosity of the blood.
We often see in clinical practice that when serum albumin is low, the colloidal osmotic pressure in the plasma drops. At this time, the water in the plasma will penetrate into the tissue gap, causing edema and ascites. After supplementing albumin and diuresis, edema can gradually improve.
The liver is also the place for synthesis of most coagulation factors (also proteins) in the body. In the case of poor liver function, the synthesis of coagulation factors will also be reduced. This will affect the coagulation function of people, resulting in gum bleeding and or other parts of the bleeding and coagulation slower. Some people even collide slightly, and purple and blood stasis will occur.
03 How to use chronic liver disease patients
Supplement protein through diet
The source of normal protein is mainly animal protein in food, including various meats (lean meat), eggs, milk and fish. It can be said that a normal and ordinary diet can supplement enough protein.
However, because some hepatitis patients have poor appetite, they should try every means to process and process the food so that the patient can eat smoothly, and also make the protein in the food easier to decompose, thereby helping the absorption of amino acids.
In some special circumstances, animal protein may have a certain impact on relatively severe decompensated cirrhosis, especially in patients with hepatic encephalopathy , which will increase the production of blood ammonia and aggravate hepatic encephalopathy. At this time, plant protein should be the main one.
The source of plant protein, including legumes and soy products that people often consume, as well as plant proteins supplied by other foods.The combination of plant protein and animal protein is also one of the most basic principles of nutritional matching and can also supplement various nutrients.
0446 protein intake and synthesis
protein participates in various physiological activities of the human body. For patients with chronic liver disease, whether the intake and synthesis of protein is sufficient has a great impact. The most important influence is the impact on the person's mental state. The symptoms of fatigue and fatigue in many patients with chronic liver disease are related to insufficient protein and nutrition intake.
Since many proteins are synthesized in the liver, for some patients with chronic liver diseases with poor digestive function or poor liver function, they attach great importance to the source of protein nutrition. It is recommended that plant protein and animal protein each account for a certain proportion. When cooking, pay attention to details to facilitate digestion and absorption, and thus reduce the burden on the liver.
Generally speaking, it emphasizes that food should be diversified, so that the source of various proteins can be ensured to meet the normal operation of various physiological functions of the human body.
