salt, protein, fats

I've been recently diagonosed with Hep C (gotta be 25-35 years ago it started). Waiting for results from by biopsy.

Anyway, my BCBS insurance has a program called "AdviCare" that kinda gives you a checklist and information about your current health problem and questions to ask your doctor. One of the items on the checklist is "I watch my diet closely and follow a diet that is low in salt, protein, and fat."

Now, I know salt is no good for anyone, not sure why specifically for the liver.
Now, I know fat isn't the greatest stuff to have in a diet. Except for the "good fats" like fish oil, omega 3's, olive oil. There again, will good fats hurt the liver.
Now, I'm interested in the where and why of the the above 2 in relation to the liver, but I am scratching my head on the protein one. I know weight lifters say to drink at least 8oz of water for every ounce of protein.

I honestly believe that BCBS might be on to something since they are footing the $80,000 bill for my problem. I am worried because I don't eat many meat products I take whey protein powder after weight lifting and just as general mood inhancer.

I guess I will back off the protein powder but now I'm wondering about stuff like fat free yogurt and milk and cottage cheese and beans.  Kinda worried because of the importance of protein in the building blocks of our systems.

I hate long posts but I guess I just made one!!!

[veggie]

A fatty liver is a bad thing and serious disease and usually caused by meat. The good oils are not bad for the liver. Weightlifters don't usually have a severe liver disease, so what applies to them doesn't necessarily apply to us. You can do the protein powder a once a week. I like low fat yogurt, I don't like milk but I do eat beans. Treatment is only for a year at maximum so any shortage can be made up when tx. is finished. It's not so easy to keep food down when you are on INF/RIBA. I lost 17 lbs. People who are heavy can lose a great deal more. Sometimes you have no appetite for anything. NY girl liked to take her riba with ice cream so she wouldn't get too thin.

[scratchinghead]

I'm going to wait until June or July for the "treatment" anyway. I will have become more important at work (read: $400 raise and permanent position--large goverment/unio job which will allow be more leeway with the disability insurance I might have to use). I've always been a nutrion nut so still have the questions of "why" when it comes to protein.

[NYCMark]

I would have said that fatty liver in nonalcoholics is more likely caused by a sedentary lifestyle and a diet high in refined carbohydrates, than it is by protein. What is your source of information? Are you speaking as a vegetarian?

Mark

[scratchinghead]

I would like to clarify something in this thread I started. I am curious about salt, fat, protein and the liver because I am holding off on the Interferon treatment until better circumstances (and the ski season is over heh heh). So I am trying to fine tune my diet until then.

[merryBe]

salt info is like the first and last letter of your health ins.B then S
salt is essential for life, too much is removed by kidneys, body tells us when we need it....if you take lots of supplements you may get too much, what does you main blood panel show.

now if you want to get into man made salts like MSG etc...then we'll be here for hours....3 words.
NO TACO BELL.....

protein, yes, you need it, not all from animal sourses is good, read diet for a small planet for getting protein from other sources many drinks are NON digestable and they say high protein...matters not if you are not a cow with 4 stomachs cause YOU will not digest it. So yes to alternate sources, BUT some animal sources are necessary for most folks to get enough. you cannot replace tissue without the building blocks.

fat, again source is key, nothing hydrogenated, as little saturated as possible too, but some fat is again essential to life, so essential that with non your liver tries to make it on it's own out of other things, without it you cannot blink or swallow...etc etc...

all things in moderation.....and try a different source the BCBS...where the people actually have degrees in biomoleculars not business management or the appearance thereof.

although.............if I could convince a few hep c patients to just eat better...and not seek the 5000.00 per month treatment they need........I might get the bonus this year!!!!!!!!!!!!   grin

quite frankly its not salt, protein or fat that are the culprits as much as a diet overly rich in all of the above and where the focus is on snack and mouth feel appeal and off of the nutritive and healthful choices needed to sustain a healthy animal. If our farmers fed their animals the way we feed ourselves, they'd have fields full of dead cows, and our dairy issues would be solved for us!!!!

hope that helps.

[sfwandwow]

i have a fatty liver and its scary but its gettingbetter ur liver regenerates itself if u take care of it

[mikesimon]

This article states that "eating of fatty foods, by itself, doesn't produce a fatty liver"

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/nonalcoholic-fatty-liver-disease/DS00577/DSECTION=2

It's unclear exactly what causes nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. But many researchers believe that metabolic syndrome — a cluster of disorders that increase the risk of diabetes, heart disease and stroke — likely plays an important role in its development. Signs and symptoms of metabolic syndrome include:

    * Obesity, particularly around the waist (abdominal obesity)
    * High blood pressure (hypertension)
    * One or more abnormal cholesterol levels — high levels of triglycerides, a type of blood fat, or low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, the "good" cholesterol
    * Resistance to insulin, a hormone that helps to regulate the amount of sugar in your blood

Of these, insulin resistance may be the most important trigger of simple fatty liver (steatosis) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Because both conditions can remain stable for many years, causing little harm, researchers have proposed that a "second hit" to the liver may trigger a progression to cirrhosis. Possible triggers include bacterial infections, hormonal abnormalities or an accumulation of excess iron in the liver caused by hemochromatosis.

It's also unclear exactly how a liver becomes fatty. The fat may come from other parts of your body, or your liver may absorb an increased amount of fat from your intestine. Another possible explanation is that your liver loses its ability to change fat into a form that can be eliminated. But one thing's certain: The eating of fatty foods, by itself, doesn't produce a fatty liver.

Researchers suspect that there may be a genetic component to the disorder, and are investigating whether genes play a role in the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease or if genes may affect the severity of the disorder.

Risk factors

Although the cause of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is unclear, the condition is associated with many risk factors. The three most important ones are closely related to metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance:

    * Overweight and obesity. Your risk increases with every pound of excess weight. More than 70 percent of people with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are obese. Overweight is defined as having a body mass index between 25 and 29.9; obesity is defined as having a body mass index of 30 or higher.
    * Diabetes. When your body becomes resistant to the effects of insulin or your pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin to maintain a normal blood sugar (glucose) level, this can damage many organs in your body, including your liver . As many as three in four people with NASH also have diabetes.
    * Hyperlipidemia. High cholesterol levels and elevated triglycerides are common in people who develop NASH. It's estimated that up to 80 percent of people with NASH have hyperlipidemia.

Other risk factors include:

    * Abdominal surgery. Operations to remove large sections of the small intestine (small bowel resection), treat obesity (gastric bypass) or bypass parts of the small intestine (jejunal bypass) often lead to rapid weight loss, which may increase your risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
    * Medications. These include oral corticosteroids (prednisone, hydrocortisone, others), synthetic estrogens (Premarin, Ortho-Est, others) for menopause, amiodarone (Cordarone, Pacerone) for heart arrhythmias, tamoxifen for breast cancer and methotrexate Rheumatrex, Trexall), an immune-suppressing medication for rheumatoid arthritis.
    * Other conditions. These include Wilson's disease, a hereditary condition that affects copper levels; Weber-Christian disease, which affects nutrient absorption; and abetalipoproteinemia, a rare congenital disorder that affects the ability to digest fat. Inherited metabolic disorders that increase the risk of cirrhosis include galactosemia, a rare disorder that affects the way the body metabolizes milk sugar (lactose), and glycogen storage diseases, which prevent glycogen, the stored form of glucose, from being formed or released when your body requires it.

[scratchinghead]

I think all sodium is bad when sprinkled on food. Put one of those heartrate monitors around your arm and eat your sea salt or whatever. You're blood pressure will go up even if you don't have high blood pressure. MSG I agree is caca. It comes with so many names that even when they say there is no MSG there is MSG by some other name. We get enough sodium from our diet.

I think some nutrition nuts rave about how sea salt is different but I think it is so they can cope with their acquired-taste-health-food-diet that they couldn't aquire the taste for. Then they slide over to saying range fed beef is ok, then they are onto how the Irish have lived on potatoes for thousands of years and all of a sudden they have rationalized the Standard Amercian Diet (SAD) meat and potatoe diet.

This thread really wasn't about nutritional arguements for normal people. It was about the scientific effect of salt, protein, and fats on a hep c liver.

I am not going to discount my insurance company from trying to inform me of some good practices. I'll be anything they have seen more hep C cases and statistics than you or me and I'll be they have doctors on their payroll too. I am going to view the glass of water as half full. They also mentioned I should take a paper with my questions on it when I go see the specialist. You might try that next time you see Benner. He may be *businesslike* but that might be a blessing and you can take advantage of it if you are prepared with your questions.

[merryBe]

way ahead on that...took in the Q's and daily logs..

animal husbandry...a hobby of mine..all critters including man know when they are low in salt and seek it out....the regulation issues stem from anomalies brought on both by all essential salts not just sodium chloride. Actually you will die without enough salt...and many people make the mistake of actually harming themselves thinking they are doing a good deed on a low sodium diet.

Low sodium diets are needful for folk with blood pressure/kidney function issues NOT the general populace. If you have some BP probs, I'm sure you've heard all of this...unfortunately the ond "salt is bad for you" sold a lot of books, has not left the general false knowledge pool and is now proven to not be the cause of all the diseases once assigned to it.

I could get into my theories on why Indians for instance are more prone to diebetes (diabetes), or Africans to BP problems, but this has to do with genetics and thousands of years of having adapted to certain conditions, only to have a whole different climate and diet hoisted on them.

However, to keep it simple...salt is not bad for everyone in fact it helps regulate more functions than I have the strength or memory to list..... Too much salt certainly can be bad for folk.

the push for sea salt is bogus only in the sense that all our salt is really being mined from former sea salt beds...so it's all that.  the real concern for some was whether the alumina being added to prevent caking/hardening and keep the salt free flowing was really a toxin not fully understood..