Nutritional Needs Of A Patient Before Liver Transplant

A healthy liver cleans your blood, helps you fight infection, assists with food digestion and stores energy. When you have liver disease and your liver can no longer perform these functions, your doctor may suggest a liver transplant. Malnutrition is common in liver disease, and maintaining your nutritional status prior to your liver transplant can lower your risk of complications and improve your recovery time.

Energy

People with liver disease have higher calorie needs and generally a poor appetite making it difficult to meet needs. Calorie needs can vary depending on weight status. If you need to maintain your weight, you need about 30 to 35 calories per kilogram of body weight. If your goal is weight gain, you will need 35 to 45 calories per kilogram of body weight. Your doctor or dietitian will determine your calorie needs. Sixty to 70 percent of your calories should come from complex and simple carbohydrates, including breads, legumes, vegetables, fruit and milk.

Protein

Protein needs are also elevated when you have liver disease. Prior to your transplant, your should be consuming at least 1.0 g per of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, and may need as much as 2.0 g of protein per kilogram of body weight. High intakes of protein can increase the amount of ammonia in your blood and lead to hepatic encephalopathy. Protein restriction, however, is not recommended. Instead, you should be taking a medication called lactulose that will help flush the protein from your body. Good sources of protein include poultry, beef, pork, fish, eggs and milk.

Fat

Fat is an important source of calories, however eating too much fat can cause diarrhea due to fat malabsorption. Your doctor or dietitian can help determine how much fat you should eat each day. A balanced diet pre-liver transplant should contain 25 to 40 percent of calories from fat. Food sources of fat include butter, oil, salad dressing, mayonnaise, nuts and fried food.

Sodium

You may need to restrict your sodium intake to 2 to 4 g a day prior to your liver transplant to prevent fluid retention, especially if you are experiencing ascites -- fluid around your abdomen -- or edema. When trying to reduce the sodium in your diet, omit the salt shaker from cooking and at the table. Instead use herbs and spices to flavor food. You should also read food labels to help you track your sodium intake. Foods with less than 140 mg of sodium per serving are considered low-sodium food items.

Calcium

Adequate intakes of calcium is important for bone health prior to your transplant. People with liver disease have high rates of liver osteodystrophy -- weak and porous bones -- which can increase rates of death post-transplant. You should be consuming 1,200 to 1,500 mg of calcium a day through diet or supplementation. Food sources of calcium include milk, yogurt, salmon with the bones, tofu and fortified breads and cereals.

Fat-Soluble Vitamins

You may also need to supplement your diet with fat-soluble vitamins because of your diarrhea and fat malabsorption. Fat-soluble vitamins include vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin K. Talk to your doctor about a water-soluble form of your fat-soluble vitamins.