Lasting nutritional imbalance following abstinence in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis.

The dietary intake of eight alcoholic patients with liver cirrhosis following complete abstinence was compared with that of non-alcoholic cirrhotics. Protein and lipid amounts actually ingested were much lower, even following abstinence, in alcoholic cirrhotics than in non-alcoholic cirrhotics, suggesting that dietary customs of alcoholics with liver disease do not change easily. Therefore, dietary education is necessary for abstaining alcoholics and should be aggressively applied in the out-patient clinic.