Effects of nocturnal snacks on body composition in patients with liver cirrhosis

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.

To investigate the effect of nocturnal snacks on body composition in patients with cirrhosis.

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.

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.

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.