Physicians should be ‘real’ about nutrition for NAFLD with parents, children
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A presenter at the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition Annual Meeting discussed the effect of nutrition among pediatric patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
“The impact of nutrition on natural treatment as a main treatment method is to change the nutrition or lifestyle habits or make some improvements,” Paula Mrowczynski-Hernandez, MEd, RD, CSSD, said during the presentation. “It plays a pretty big role because nonalcoholic fatty liver disease results from hepatic fat accumulation, and we usually seen that in pediatric patients with obesity and type two diabetes or maybe prediabetes. The prevalence is higher in obese children than compared with those of normal weight or those that are not classified in the obesity category according to BMI. Although we have seen some children with NAFLD that are not obese or living with obesity.”
Among the tips and tricks Mrowczynski-Hernandez provided were:
- Children should eat a balanced diet with lean proteins, fiber rich foods and omega 3 rich fat sources.
- Rather than juices and sugar-sweetened beverages, children should hydrate with water.
“We try to recommend that they're drinking water rather than the sugar-sweetened beverages, trying to eat foods, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, maybe protein sources from chicken, fish and lean meats, good probiotics sources yogurt, and fiber rich foods,” she said. “We tried to help communicate that those are the food sources that will help their body be healthy and their liver be healthy. The foods and fluids to limit for a healthy liver we also share but also realize that these are kids, children and adolescents. We know that some of these foods might be included daily or weekly. We don't want them to be afraid of these foods but to also share that these are the foods that are can be harmful to their liver.”
- Children should include physical activity each day.
“We want to help children and adolescents enjoy physical activity and movement,” Mrowczynski-Hernandez, said “This can be challenging depending on their resources or their living space, especially during COVID.”
- Physicians should keep the conversation “real,” or Realistic, Effective, Appropriate and Long-term.
- Set realistic goals without shaming or blaming.
- Physicians should consider cultural sensitivity, language and food preferences, cooking methods and food insecurity.
“Just give some feedback suggestions and help [parents] develop a goal or a plan that can help them and their child eat healthier because we know this could help with their nonalcoholic fatty liver disease,” she said.
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Mrowczynski-Hernandez P. Nutritional Treatment for NAFLD. Presented at: Annual Meeting; Dec. 12-18, 2021 (virtual meeting).
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