Studies have also shown that three in four liver patients on a waiting list for liver transplant surgery have malnutrition and BMI is less than 30% ؜ of body weight or body mass. Here are general tips for cirrhosis patients to avoid malnutrition.

Calories:

The patient needs about 35% of calories per kilo of body weight per day with the need to take into account and eating several light meals during the day and be one of them before sleep to avoid low blood sugar during sleep.

Carbohydrates:

- The patient is advised to eat about 300 grams of carbohydrates a day.

- Allow the intake of carbohydrate starchy compounds, especially brown bread, rice, potatoes and whole grains.

- Minimize simple sugars that provide the body with calories free of good nutritional value, which reduces the activity of the immune system and lead to the accumulation of fat in the liver and increase the imbalance and functions of the liver.

Fats:

- There is no basis of scientific health in terms of avoiding eating fat because it  leads the body to the tendency to burn the body proteins to obtain the necessary energy and lead to more muscle weakness and stress and the accumulation of ketones and harmful oxidants of the body.

- Chronic liver patient needs to eat about 100 grams of fat a day and allows unsaturated healthy fats and reduce saturated animal fats such as red meat, which lead to increased accumulation of fat and liver deterioration of its functions.

- Overweight and obese patients should eat about 50 grams of fat daily with a balanced diet that ensures weight loss gradually to avoid increased hepatitis.

It is also recommended to avoid cholesterol-rich foods such as red meat, marine crustaceans, animal fat, liver, brain, duck and geese.

Proteins:

A chronic liver patient (who has not previously had hepatitis or pre-coma) is advised to take about one and a half grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. This keeps the nitrogen balance in chronic liver conditions and helps to restore damaged cells.

salt:

It is recommended that the chronic liver patient avoid the salt of the food and preserved foods, salted and pickles, and prefers to replace the table salt with other natural flavoring Such as lemon, vinegar, ingredient or thyme.

- The patient is also advised to increase the intake of vegetarian foods low in content of sodium, which helps to produce urine such as celery.

Iron:

Since the chronic liver disease is more likely to store iron in the liver, which affects the efficiency of liver cells, but leads to increased activity of hepatitis viruses and lack of functions of the immune system, so should move away from iron supplements in the form of dietary supplements, especially in patients with high iron in blood. It is also recommended to reduce foods containing high amounts of iron such as red meat, liver, kidneys, potatoes, broccoli, spinach, black honey and dried fruits.

Diversity in food sources:

The chronic liver patient is advised to vary in sources and colors of food to get a balanced diet. It is also recommended to eat grilled and boiled food, steam cooking, avoid frying as much as possible, refrain from smoking, alcohol and sedatives.