In summary, regular review of nutritional status with appropriate nutritional advice should

be included as part of the comprehensive care of all patients with cirrhosis. Referral to an accredited, practising dietitian, selleck chemicals particularly one experienced in the management of end-stage liver disease, will assist in determining the nutritional status and oral intake of the patient with cirrhosis as well as providing expert advice about nutritional requirements and practical advice on how to meet these requirements. In 2006, the European Society for Enteral and Parenteral Nutrition updated its guidelines for the management of patients with cirrhosis. The recommendations are that patients with cirrhosis require 35–40 kcals/kg body weight/day and 1.2–1.5 g protein/kg body weight/day.14 Meeting these energy and nutritional requirements is a major challenge for patients, and the use of oral supplements is often essential selleck screening library to ensure reversal of malnutrition. In addition, supplementation with oral branched-chain amino acids might improve muscle mass and lead to the resolution of minimal hepatic encephalopathy, and might be of benefit in patients with recurrent hepatic encephalopathy, who are unresponsive to other measures.6,15 Another nutritional consideration in patients with cirrhosis, particularly those with hepatic encephalopathy, is dietary

supplementation with probiotics (live microorganisms) or prebiotics (non-digestible food ingredients that selectively stimulate the growth MCE or activity of beneficial colonic bacterial). Altered gut barrier function and gut flora contribute to systemic inflammation in cirrhosis. There is growing evidence that pro-inflammatory cytokines are involved in the development of encephalopathy,

and that factors that reduce the rate of bacterial translocation across the intestine might reduce the level of encephalopathy.16 The use of synbiotics (a combination of probiotics and prebiotics) might result in improvements in encephalopathy and in overall liver function.17 Currently, there is no standardization in commercially-available probiotic or synbiotic preparations. Hepatic glycogen stores are depleted in cirrhosis. The response to prolonged periods of fasting in cirrhotic patients is an alteration in the pattern of fuel utilization similar to that seen in starvation metabolism, with increased lipolysis and gluconeogenesis from amino acids. Repeated, prolonged periods of starvation for procedures should be avoided in the cirrhotic patient. The use of evening nutritional sip supplements is recommended to reduce the periods of fasting to less than 7 h.18 If patients with cirrhosis are unable to meet 70% of their requirements orally, then supplementary artificial feeding should be initiated, preferably via a fine bore feeding tube using a high-energy, high-protein feed.19 Parenteral feeding should only be considered if the patient is unable to tolerate oral intake or enteral feeding.