Diet taboos for multiple liver cysts

For the vast majority of multiple liver cysts that are congenital, have no abnormal liver function, and have no obvious symptoms, there are no foods that must not be eaten. The core is just to avoid three types of factors that clearly increase the burden on the liver. Most of the "cannot eat eggs, can't eat soy products, and can't eat seafood" spread online have no scientific basis, and there is no need for excessive dietary restrictions that lead to malnutrition.

Almost every week in my outpatient clinic, I encounter three or four patients who come to inquire in a panic after receiving their physical examination reports. Last month, a young man who works on the Internet was found to have two 0.8cm cysts. He even gave up his favorite spicy crayfish. He came to inquire. Do I want to be a "vegetarian monk" in the future? I read him the domestic guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of liver cysts and told him that it was not necessary. He went out and went directly to the crayfish shop downstairs. During the review last week, he told me that he had not eaten less crayfish and that the cyst had not changed at all.

The most frequently asked question is whether soy products can be eaten. There are indeed different clinical opinions on this point: Western medicine does not have any evidence-based medical evidence to prove that phytoestrogens such as soy isoflavones can stimulate the growth of congenital liver cysts. It is perfectly fine to drink soy milk and eat tofu normally.； However, some schools of traditional Chinese medicine suggest that if you have breast nodules and uterine fibroids at the same time, and the growth rate of cysts in the past six months exceeds 1cm/year, you can appropriately reduce foods with high animal-derived estrogen content such as royal jelly and snow clams. You can also drink less concentrated soy milk, without completely fasting.

What you really need to pay attention to is not the magical "hair products" that everyone talks about, but the things that can actually damage the liver.

Alcohol is an uncontroversial taboo item in the industry. Regardless of whether you have liver cysts, the acetaldehyde produced by alcohol metabolism will directly damage liver cells. If your cyst has grown to more than 5cm, part of the normal liver tissue has been squeezed, and you drink a lot for a long time, which means that there are not enough people to do the work, and you have to double the workload. Over time, liver function is prone to problems. I once had a 42-year-old male patient with multiple congenital liver cysts, the largest of which was only 4cm. He had no symptoms at first, but he went out to drink for half a month. Later, the pain in his liver area made him unable to straighten up. When he came to check, the transaminases increased to three times the normal value. It took him almost a month to recover.

There is no need to deliberately eat clear soup with little water, but it is best not to eat a diet high in oil and sugar for a long time. It’s not that braised pork or milk tea directly stimulates the growth of cysts, but long-term high fat and sugar can easily induce fatty liver. Part of the space in the liver is originally occupied by cysts, and then a bunch of fat cells are squeezed in. Naturally, it is easy to cause swelling and dull pain in the liver area. There was a retired aunt who feared "not enough nutrition" after being diagnosed with a cyst. She stewed elbows and made cream cakes at home every day. She gained 22 pounds in two years. During the re-examination, the cyst had grown from 3cm to 6cm. She was also found to have moderate fatty liver disease and was so bloated that she couldn't eat every day. Later, she reduced the frequency of high-fat and high-sugar meals to a maximum of twice a week and took a half-hour walk every day. After half a year, she lost 9 kilograms. The feeling of bloating basically disappeared, and the cyst did not grow again after reexamination.

There is another minefield that is most easily overlooked: don’t touch anything with clear hepatotoxicity. Moldy rice, aflatoxin in nuts, "liver-protecting health products" of unknown composition, and raw Polygonum multiflorum and Panax notoginseng in folk remedies are all known to damage liver cells. Don't just eat them blindly after people say they "detoxify and nourish the liver". Originally, the small blisters on the liver have no effect at all. Drug-induced liver damage is more of a loss than the gain.

Oh, by the way, there is another special case that needs to be mentioned separately: If you have hereditary polycystic liver disease (the whole liver is covered with large and small cysts, most of which are combined with polycystic kidney disease), you will pay more attention to your diet. Some studies have shown that excessive caffeine may accelerate the growth of cysts. In this case, you can drink less strong coffee and functional drinks. You can follow the advice of your attending doctor. It is not the same as ordinary multiple liver cysts, so don’t be confused.

In fact, the multiple liver cysts in most people are simply a few benign small blisters on the liver. Most of them are born with them. As long as they do not grow rapidly during annual reviews and the liver function is normal, there is no need to shackle yourself in eating. I deliberately looked through last year's follow-up records. The female patient who dared not even eat egg yolks before returned to a normal diet and her hemoglobin rose back to the normal value two months later. The reexamination showed that the cyst was still 1.2cm and had not grown at all. When it comes to eating, happiness is the most important thing. As long as you don't overdo it, eating a little bit of everything will make you feel more comfortable than staring at the taboo list every day.