Salt and Protein

Diet:
Diet is very important once you have cirrhosis. It is important to reduce salt
intake as failure to do so can cause development of ascites.  It is important that people with cirrhosis follow a sodium restricted diet, that is, less than 2grams per day.  Apart from developing ascites, people with cirrhosis can develop malnutrition and it is
advised to have 1 to 1.5 grams of protein a day.  However, if you have advanced cirrhosis you can develop encephalopathy (inflammation of the brain) if you eat too much protein at one time, therefore at this stage you have small servings of protein throughout the day to bring the level up to 1 gram daily (Riley, 2001

[Tallahassee]

Thank you!
You gave a lot of valuable advice!

[neptune235]

Can you provide a citation for the 1-1.5g of dietary protein?  That seems shockingly low to me.  

[coeric]

i think that should read grams of protein per kg of body weight. i have read that pts with cirrhosis should keep protein at 0.6 to 0.8grams per kg of body weight.

[hippygem]

Yes, you are right, it is 1 to 1.5g of protein per kg per day.

Information from American Family Physician, PREVENTIVE STRATEGIES IN CHRONIC LIVER DISEASE: PART 2. CIRRHOSIS. - Thomas R Riley MD and Ahsan M Bhatti MD.
Vol. 64/No 10 (November 15, 2001).