Copyright
©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Nov 27, 2020; 12(11): 883-896
Published online Nov 27, 2020. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v12.i11.883
Published online Nov 27, 2020. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v12.i11.883
Malnutrition in cirrhosis: More food for thought
Brooke Chapman, Nutrition and Dietetics Department, Austin Health, Heidelberg 3084, Australia
Marie Sinclair, Paul J Gow, Adam G Testro, Liver Transplant Unit, Austin Health, Heidelberg 3084, Australia
Author contributions: Chapman B, Sinclair M and Testro A conceived the idea and designed the literature review; Chapman B drafted the manuscript; all authors critically reviewed the manuscript and approved the final version of the manuscript for publication.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Nothing to disclose.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Brooke Chapman, BSc, MSc, Nutrition and Dietetics Department, Austin Health, 145 Studley Road, Heidelberg 3084, Australia. brooke.chapman@austin.org.au
Received: June 16, 2020
Peer-review started: June 16, 2020
First decision: September 24, 2020
Revised: October 8, 2020
Accepted: October 20, 2020
Article in press: October 20, 2020
Published online: November 27, 2020
Peer-review started: June 16, 2020
First decision: September 24, 2020
Revised: October 8, 2020
Accepted: October 20, 2020
Article in press: October 20, 2020
Published online: November 27, 2020
Core Tip
Core Tip: Malnutrition is widespread in liver cirrhosis. This paper highlights the multifactorial aetiology of liver-related malnutrition, and details the complex challenges cirrhotic patients face in achieving nutritional targets. Although potentially modifiable, there are a scarcity of successful treatments hence the evidence base pertaining to nutritional interventions is surprisingly weak. Further research is required to bridge the gap between actual and ideal nutritional status in cirrhosis. If this goal can be realised, the potential impact on patient and clinical outcomes is immense.