Impact of Nutrition on Alcoholic Liver Disease:A Brief Review

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a result of various pathopysiological stages, and malnutrition is directly linked with the severity of ALD. Malnutrition is caused due to the substitution of calories from alcohol for calories from food and the other contributory factors are malabsorption and maldigestion of nutrients from the gut. Complete abstinence from alcohol is the only remedial therapy for ALD patients. Proper nutritional management along with appropriate supportive treatment modalities effectively helps in reducing complications linked with ALD specifically infection. In many malnourished patients, nutrition plays a significant role in the treatment of ALD. Therefore, nutrition therapy for ALD patients should be planned on an assessment of their complications, nutritional state, and dietary intake. Branched-chain amino acids, zinc, vitamin and mineral supplementation, medium chain triglycerides, vegetable protein and probiotics are considered for effective nutritional utilization.