Nutrition in Liver Disease

Nutritional status and liver disease influence each other. Liver function is compromized by malnutrition and this impairment can be overcome by nutritional intervention. Depending on disease severity, especially chronic liver disease leads to malnutrition which is an indicator of a poor prognosis. Both presence and degree of malnutrition can be diagnosed clinically without the need for techniqual equipment. In severe acute liver disease, indication and practice of nutritional therapy are not different from those in critically ill patients due to other etiology. In chronic liver disease, spontaneous food intake often is inadequate and frequently there is protein malnutrition. In a stepwise approach individualized dietary counselling, supplemental oral sip feeding, enteral tube feeding or parenteral nutrition as a second line option should be used. Nutritional therapy ensuring adequate provision of energy and protein can improve morbidity and mortality.