The assessment of trace elements nutritional habits in patients with HCV with or without interferon therapy

Abstract

Aim: The most common treatment of HCV is a therapy with interferon a (INF-a), which could escalate appetite problems in patients. The anorexia and liver damage force suffers to adhere to a special diet, which can reduce the negative effects among the participants' interferon therapy. Thus, the aim of this preliminary study was to assess the trace elements nutritional habits in patients with HCV with and without the interferon therapy. Method: The study was carried out in 50 patients with HCV, males (n = 24) and females (n = 26), aged 19-65. 24 persons (12 males and 12 females) were treated by biotherapy of INF-a and ribavirin. For the assessment of trace elements intake a 24-h interview from 3 randomly chosen days fi"om each week of a 6 week study was used. Results: In the assessment of nutritional status, the body mass index (BJVII) as well as general energy intake were lower in all patients with interferon therapy than in those without therapy group. The sodium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper and zinc intakes were statistically lower in patients with therapy than without and were insufficient. Conclusions: The interferon therapy influences appetite regulation in patients with HCV and the reduction of diet intake can also lead to insufficient mineral intake as well as to symptoms associated with hypomineralemia. This study suggests-multi-supplementation with trace elements in all patients with HCV.

Effect of short-term food restriction on iron metabolism, relative well-being and depression symptoms in healthy women

“…The scientific evidence on this topic is rather inadequate. Previous studies by this author on the distribution of micronutrients in different populations exposed to a reduction in food and energy intake (such as cystic fibrosis patients, hepatitis C virus infected patients treated with interferon, obese children on special low calorie diets, and women with vegetarian diets) have shown significantly lower levels of selected trace elements in hair, serum, and urine compared to the normal or reference values [ 3 , 4 , 23 , 24 ]. These observations suggest that in people using free-will starvation as a method of weight loss, similar deficiencies might be observed.…”

Alterations of selected iron management parameters and activity in food-restricted female Wistar rats (animal anorexia models)

“…), are 3 times more likely to suffer from iron deficiency than those women with normal diets [ 1 , 4 – 6 ]. In previous research the low tissue iron as a result of low iron intake was often observed [ 4 – 8 ]. Women are at risk of iron deficiency not only because of insufficient intake of this metal, but also the greatest risk of iron deficiency anemia occurs through the combined effects of suboptimal iron consumption and menstrual bleeding, which negatively influences iron balance.…”