Sugar...

[deanw41]

Is fruit bad for your liver? It’s fructose right? I’m trying to get off the cake,well down to one a week. Glucose is sugar yeah? But fructose is stored more in the liver than glucose? Shall i ween myself off cake with fruit? My consultant or doctor had never had a diet conversation with me. In fact they don’t even ask me if I’m still not drinking or do I need support? I was taking all these B vitamins,my alcohol key worker messaged my surgery to say Dean is 9 months sober can we review the b vitamins. The surgery pharmacist called to say you don’t need them now. The doctor never said don’t take them cause she never asks me if I’m drinking or not. I said to her,I’ve spoken to a nurse at the BLT and told her my story,could my liver be compensated now I’ve put 4 st in muscle on?? She said depends how bad it is!!! Well how bad is it doctor!!! It’s unbelievable,they don’t ask me!! They seem to brush me off like I’ve got a bad belly! My consultant said,easy for me to say but don’t worry thousands of people have what you and don’t know it!! ??????? Any ideas guys???

[bintcliffe]

Hi There, I initially had a decompensated liver and over 3.5 years it's gone to compensated stage 1 and the amount of fruit I have ate over that period is immense, I too had the most incredible urges for sweet things and I stopped this for the fruit, I know we are all different but it's certainly not done me any harm and my liver consultant has never told me to stop, I wish you well, Hayley.

[alexpbower]

Hello, any food in huge amounts is not good for you. i have a liver disease and eat fruit regularly. It does have sugar but this is natural sugar and not refined which you find in chocolate and pretty much any sweet. This cause a spike in euphoria (the liver trying to process) before pushing you down a huge low. Anything with fructose syrup or high levels of sugar should be avoided. As with all GP's their medically trained to deal with a number of ailments and hence dependent on blood tests and other criteria they refer to the local hepatology unit (usually at the hospital) where you will be assigned a liver consultant. Have you had any blood test? Were there any abnormal markers determining liver disease?

[deanw41 in reply to alexpbower]

Yes I have cirrhosis and I’m under a consultant. Bloods are a lot better,it’s been 7 months since I last had them done so I’m due for them and a scan.

[Richard-Allen]

This is sometimes a tricky subject to try and understand. The liver is often regarded as being like the bodies sugar factory. I've used some of Dr john Campbells videos on here before, as I find them really helpful when trying to help understand certain things.

Here John explains the liver function, Carbohydrate storage and metabolism. I hope this video helps: youtu.be/eGnTcDeu_RY(Not working as expected?)

Richard.

[MLB_77]

The main thing to avoid is “added sugar”. Also adding protein to sugar will help to maintain good blood sugar. (Even just a scoop of peanut butter)

[dave_tsda]

Hi Dean, I had read the same thing that fructose was metabolized by the liver and therefore should be limited if you have certain liver conditions like NAFLD.

But the thing that isn't always spelled out is that all fruits are not created equal. I used to eat a banana and apple a day, plus grapes. But after researching more, those all have a ton of sugar. So I cut all those out. I try to stay to a cup or less of one of those a day.

Try finding fruits that are lower on the the glycemic index like berries (blackberries, raspberries, strawberries are all great choices). That can help ween you down, and then you can eventually replace those with something else as your sweet tooth starts to disappear

[utep99]

The fruit is good and fructose is bad.

[deanw41 in reply to utep99]

How do you eat fruit without the fructose then?

[utep99 in reply to deanw41]

I was addicted to Coca-Cola but have found that natural juices (not orange) will not be too painful. I drink pure apple juice. Fresh fruit also but not oranges