Healthy Food Choices for Pancreatitis

Pancreatitis can be caused by medications, gall stones, surgeries or heavy alcohol use. Learn more about diets for pancreatitis in this nutrition video.

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Consult your doctor
Avoid drinking alcohol
Eat small frequent meals
Limit fat intake
Tyr supplements

About this Author

David Hill is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also works as the vice-president of Cape Fear Pediatrics, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. David attended Rice University and Texas Medical School of Houston. He writes a monthly column for the Wilmington Parent, as well as, grant regular interviews with television channel WWAY regarding health topics. Sharing his extensive knowledge in a way that is accessible, and maintains healthy lifestyles is what Dr. Hill strives to achieve.

DR. DAVID HILL: Hey, today we are going to talk about diet for pancreatitis. The pancreas is an organ that lies toward the back of your abdomen. It makes digestive enzymes as well as insulin, and it is a key for absorbing many critical nutrients in your diet. The pancreas can be damaged by medications, gall stones, certain surgeries, and especially by very heavy alcohol use. There are also some medications that can damage the pancreas. When the pancreas is damaged acutely, patients may have mild symptoms for which a five to seven days hospitalization is adequate. At the beginning of the hospitalization, they will be taking off of all foods altogether and maintain on only IV fluids. There are some other treatments that can help as well. These patients don't usually require any special diet when they are done. However, repeated or severe bouts of acute pancreatitis may lead to chronic pancreatitis, and those patients may indeed need very special diet. Chronic pancreatitis is not good for your nutrition because when the pancreas loses 90% of its function, it stops being able to make digestive enzymes that help you absorb certain products of digestion, fats, nutrients found in fats, and very importantly, it may lead to diabetes, because insulin is also made in the pancreas. For patients with chronic pancreatitis, the most important thing is to stop drinking alcohol, especially if alcohol is what caused the pancreatitis in the first place. They may need to have small frequent meals during the day as opposed to larger meals. And they may need to cut their fat intake to no more than 20 grams a day. There are also some supplemental pills that you can take which will replace the enzymes that pancreas is no longer making. And of course, if you have diabetes, there is insulin for that. Additionally, there is a fluid nutritional supplement called Peptamen that has medium-chain triglycerides, fatty acids that are easier for the intestine to absorb and are easier on the pancreas. To review, the pancreas is an organ in the abdomen that helps you absorb fats, nutrients, and also produces insulin that helps you absorb sugar. It can be damaged in a variety of ways from gall stones, to surgeries, to heavy alcohol intake, to certain medications. Acute pancreatitis is short lived, and while it may be severe and even life-threatening, it usually is over when it is over. Chronic pancreatitis on the other hand, may last a very long time, and cause you to alter your diet, although there are some enzyme replacement therapies which can help with that. That is diet and pancreatitis.

Healthy Food Choices for Pancreatitis Video

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