Yu YB, Fu XJ, Xu GF, Niu LY, Duan RN, Yao J, Zhao NH. Effects of nocturnal snacks on body composition in patients with liver cirrhosis. World J Hepatol 2024; 16(12): 1458-1467 [PMID: 39744197 DOI: 10.4254/wjh.v16.i12.1458]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Ning-Hui Zhao, MD, Attending Doctor, Department of Gastroenterology, Third Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Tongji Shanxi Hospital, No. 99 Longcheng Street, Taiyuan 030032, Shanxi Province, China. znh7525@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Randomized Controlled Trial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (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/
Yong-Bo Yu, Department of Neurology, Third Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Tongji Shanxi Hospital, Taiyuan 030032, Shanxi Province, China
Xiu-Juan Fu, Guo-Fen Xu, Ling-Yun Niu, Jia Yao, Ning-Hui Zhao, Department of Gastroenterology, Third Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Tongji Shanxi Hospital, Taiyuan 030032, Shanxi Province, China
Ruo-Nan Duan, Department of Nutrition, Third Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Tongji Shanxi Hospital, Taiyuan 030032, Shanxi Province, China
Author contributions: Yu YB and Zhao NH wrote the manuscript; Fu XJ and Xu GF collected the data; Niu LY and Duan RN analyzed and interpreted the data; Zhao NH and Yao J provided financial support; Yao J made critical revisions; All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported bythe Fundamental Research Program of Shanxi Province, No. 202103021224341 and No. 202203021222342; Science and Technology Cooperation and Exchange Special Project of Shanxi Province, No. 202304041101048; and Science Foundation of Shanxi Bethune Hospital, No. 2023YJ07.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by Ethics Committee of Shanxi Medical University, No. 2021GLL154.
Clinical trial registration statement: This study is under registration at http://www.chictr.org.cn.
Informed consent statement: All study participants or their legal guardian provided informed written consent about personal and medical data collection prior to study enrolment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests in this study.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 Statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 Statement.
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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ning-Hui Zhao, MD, Attending Doctor, Department of Gastroenterology, Third Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Tongji Shanxi Hospital, No. 99 Longcheng Street, Taiyuan 030032, Shanxi Province, China. znh7525@163.com
Received: July 6, 2024 Revised: August 10, 2024 Accepted: August 19, 2024 Published online: December 27, 2024 Processing time: 145 Days and 22.5 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Patients with liver cirrhosis are universally malnourished and the nocturnal snacks intervention is the currently recommended nutritional intervention for patients with liver cirrhosis. Body composition is an important indicator for the assessment of nutritional conditions. We investigated the effects of nocturnal snacks (200 kcal/day) for 3 months on body composition in patients with liver cirrhosis.
AIM
To investigate the effect of nocturnal snacks on body composition in patients with cirrhosis.
METHODS
Seventy patients with liver cirrhosis and 30 healthy controls were enrolled, and differences in body composition were detected using InBody 720, a body composition analyzer. The patients were further randomized into a normal diet group (three meals a day) and nocturnal snacks group (three meals a day + nocturnal snacks). The effect of nocturnal snacks on the body composition of patients with cirrhosis was assessed after 3 months of intervention.
RESULTS
Body fat mass (BFM), skeletal muscle mass (SMM), fat free mass, visceral fat area (VFA), and body cell mass (BCM) were significantly lower in the liver cirrhosis patients than in the healthy controls. After 3 months’ intervention, BFM, VFA and BCM were significantly higher in the nocturnal snacks group than in the normal diet group, with no significant differences in total caloric intake and daily activity. However, there was no significant difference in SMM between the nocturnal snacks and normal diet groups.
CONCLUSION
Long-term nocturnal snacks may improve body composition indices such as BFM, VFA and BCM in patients with cirrhosis. However, the improvement was minor for SMM.
Core Tip: This randomized controlled study compared the effects of nocturnal snacks in patients with liver cirrhosis. The body composition of 70 cirrhotic patients, including the normal diet group and the nocturnal snacks group, and 30 healthy controls, were detected using the InBody 720 body composition analyzer. The results showed that the long-term nocturnal snacks may improve body composition indices such as body fat mass, visceral fat area and body cell mass to some extent in patients with cirrhosis.
