ALCOHOL AND DIET
Alcoholism is included in the mental health section of this chapter due to the close connections between the two disorders. That is people with mental health problems are more likely to suffer from alcoholism and alcoholics are more likely to develop mental health problems. Diet is an important in the treatment of alcoholism and general treatment advice includes:
- Treating malnutrition – a high percentage of alcoholics are malnourished either because they tend to have poor diets with too few calories and nutrients, or because alcohol can affect the body’s ability to absorb these nutrients. Dietary treatment for alcoholics will, therefore, require sufficient nutrients and calories to correct deficiencies.
- Including good food sources of antioxidants. Antioxidants are important at helping to reduce the toxic effects of alcohol on different parts of the body especially on the brain and liver.
- Taking additional B vitamins. Vitamin B deficiency is a very common side effect of alcoholism where deficiencies result from a variety of reasons such as low dietary intakes, impaired absorption in the small intestine and decreased storage capacity. B12 deficiency is a particular concern amongst alcoholics again due to poor diet and also due to the fact that low levels of stomach acid reduces the body’s ability to absorb this vitamin. Untreated vitamin B12 deficiency can cause anaemia, nervous damage and neurological disorders.
Dietary advice for alcoholism must also meet the requirements of any other conditions linked to the disease e.g. pancreatitis (an inflamed pancreas), mental health problems such as depression, heart disease, high blood pressure, cancers including those of the mouth, oesophagus and liver), stomach and liver disease such as fatty liver, hepatitis and cirrhosis. In the next section we shall look at the requirements of liver cirrhosis as an example
Cirrhosis of the Liver
As discussed above liver cirrhosis can occur as a result of alcoholism, in fact it accounts for around 50% of all cases of the disease. Cirrhosis is the end result of chronic liver disease and refers to a condition where the liver has become scarred and unable to function properly. Unfortunately the condition is irreversible and once developed the role of medications and diet can only be to help reduce the symptoms of the disease rather than act as a cure. Symptoms of cirrhosis include mental confusion, indigestion and abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, weakness, weight loss and jaundice.
Dietary recommendations for patients with liver cirrhosis require the treatment of weight loss and malnutrition and also the reduction of salt in the diet. A reduced salt diet is important as salt causes the body to retain water and this can result in a build up of fluid in the liver making it swell. A reduced sugar diet may also be helpful as some people with cirrhosis also suffer from raised blood sugar (hyperglycaemia). Additionally in cases of severe liver disease patients are unable to process proteins properly. In this instance reducing proteins can reduce the build up of toxic waste products of protein metabolism which can result in confusion. Low protein diets must be approached with caution, however, as many patients are already malnourished and intakes of protein are already low due to poor appetite / nausea etc.
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