Hi everyone,
I was wondering what lifestyle changes people are making for their hep b. My partner is mostly just exercising (walking the dog, and to and from work) and minimising his alcohol intake.
What other things are people doing out there? Do you find it makes a difference?
Hi Miriam,
I used to do yoga (and I think @OlgaP mentioned on HepB list that she still does), which was helpful. I just need the time to get back into it again 
I think the very basic things we all know help us in general, also help with Hep B: Eating healthy, getting exercise, and sleeping well. These will help with preventing other complications like fatty/metabolic liver disease that exacerbate hep b.
Supplements in my view only help if you really are clinically deficient in something. Alternative medicines have generally been shown to have very very minor (if any) effects on Hep B. Itâs much more effective (and usually much cheaper) to do the basic lifestyle changes.
I read vitamin D is important. I m guessing vitamin C is also important bc it helps your body with immunity. I was prescribed to take OTC vitamin E, but only for 6 months.
I say with any supplements, be careful. If anything get your sources from natural foods. Too much fruit is not good either. I started to make juice with a juicer. You can also make smoothies with vegetables and use it as a meal. Eating healthy cost more in the U.S. then eating non healthy. Lol
I walk, ride bike, going to start running. I donât get enough sleep, but feel well rested. I would stay below 70g of carbs a day. That might be too much.
Try to keep processed foods out. Itâs hard but best to minimize it. Take walks and think positive!
With CHB, we have to watch what we put into our body. Itâs not always absolute, but itâs more âmonitoredâ, I guess before and after finding out about your medical condition.
I been juicing vegetables lately, stopped or cut back almost 90% of sugar intake. No more alcohol. Cut back on rice, bread, pasta, and other grain/flour foods.
I do take vitamin C, D gummies though( my treat ). I take vitamin E , maybe every other day. I try to eliminate fast foods, but with kids I ll order and eat with them. I fast everyday from 8pm to about 11am
Anybody willing to share their diet and supplements they take?
Johnny
Mod edit (TT): Moved this thread here and updated the topic. I think nutrition and lifestyle changes complement each other.
Hi NeptuneJ, great point about the Vitamin D. I know thatâs something my partner has taken in the past. I donât think we get Vitamin D gummies here in Australia though!
Sounds like youâve really got a good plan for your nutrition and supplements. Sadly it does seem to be more expensive to eat healthily! Especially when youâre short of time!
Hi Johnny,
In Australia gummies have sugar in them. I was shocked to see the pharmacy selling vitamins made with sugar. I think there is way too much sugar added to our foods. Thatâs why I make mine from scratch.
Also did you have a blood test to see if you were deficient in vit D?
My doctor suggested I take vit D & calcium. Requested a blood test first-I didnât need them. My levels were normal.
C.
What do you mean by this? I have mild fatty liver but all the professionals say do nothing, everything is fine!!
Hi Caraline,
There are several studies (see below) linking higher liver cancer risk in HBV patients with fatty liver (or associated metabolic risk factors) compared to those without. I guess it makes sense as uncontrolled fatty liver itself can cause liver damage and cancer, so both of the conditions together make things worse.
Exactly what level of fatty liver contributes to exactly how much harm seems to be harder to pin down thoughâŠ
Cheers,
Thomas
Any suggestions or experiences people have with curing fatty liver? I will back on Keto diet, which eliminates carbs that cause fatty liver. But it calls for high fat, which I donât see it being food for fatty liver either.
Going to try some extreme vegetarian diets with the months to come.
J
Yeah, it does have 2g of sugar per serving. I ll be switching to gel caps. It was yummy though. Lol
That has really depressed me.
Dear Caraline,
I understand that it may feel depressing right now. But also, there is some issues to consider that might bring you some relief:
While there is this link, the data are still not clear on how severe fatty liver needs to get before there really is an increase in liver cancer risk. It may be that mild fatty liver does not raise it much, but itâs important to keep monitoring so that it doesnât get worse.
You know about your health status way before any thing very serious is happening. For many people, the first sign they get of their liver disease is their liver failing or cancer. This means you can do something about it.
Indeed, fatty liver is a condition that you can generally do something with healthy lifestyle measures. There are many conditions that we have no control over, either being born with it (e.g. congenital diseases) or being unavoidably/inadvertently exposed (e.g. Hep B).
I hope that gives you some context and some optimism for the future.
Thomas
Stay positive! I know, if it ainât one thing itâs another. It a rollercoaster ride that we are on.
Stay positive.
Also, there is a study on mortality of women with CHB and liver cancer, the death was 80.1 years and cancer rates were very very low. For us men it was 70.? and was majorly of the liver cancer rate.
In Australia youâre lucky to have lots of sunshine which is one of the best ways to get enough vitamin D!! The Vit. D pills are very small and much cheaper than the gummies. And getting tested first is a good idea. No need to have expensive urine if you donât need Vit. D. Joan
P.S. Interesting fact - Dr. Anthony Fauci takes Vit. D every day!!
Anybody taking turmeric? I read that turmeric is good for chronic hepatitis B. I m sure there is a trade off somewhere.
I also read beef liver, chicken liver, egg yolks have choline, which can be beneficial to the liver.
Just FYI
Hi Johnny,
I havenât seen any evidence so far showing turmeric (at least in the doses you would be getting from eating it) having any significant effects on Hep B. In fact, there have been a couple of cases where turmeric supplements have damaged the liver and induced ALT flares (reported here and here).
Regarding the choline, it is true that a choline-deficient diet will damage the liver. But once you have enough, itâs not clear that eating more is better for your liver. I havenât seen any trials to suggest that that is the case.
TT
I read this Link online.
What is your opinion and others members opinions on milk thistle and/or dandelion root tea from dried plants?
Hi Johnny,
There are several issues I have with that study.
The effect size is not great - there are decreases of only 50%. Imagine if you reduced your virus load from 2 million to 1 million, that really doesnât help much.
The system they use (HepG2.2.15 cells) is very old and derived for liver cancer cells. We know that these cancer cells have very different metabolisms to normal liver cells. We now have better cell systems that reflect the normal liver better. So, while HepG2.2.15 cells might be good as an initial screen for potential candidate supplements that work against HepB, they really need to be tested in better systems.
The study doesnât address how much of the curcumin actually gets to the liver. ~90% of any curcumin you eat is not absorbed and just gets pooped out (cite here). That means you need a whole lot (my calculations say about 10 teaspoons of turmeric powder a day) to get your blood levels high enough to make this 50% reduction of virus. At such high concentrations, youâre potentially going to get those liver damage side-effects. By the way, curcumin is not very soluble in water, the 20 micromols/L concentration they use is very close to the maximum concentration you can get without the curcumin just forming precipitates/sandy pieces of goo.
Regarding milk thistle, I think the hep B foundation has done a good summary of its effects (doesnât do a whole lot against HBV, unclear how safe it is, donât know how it can react with your other medications) here.
With the dandelion root extract, I only found this study which showed similar results to the curcumin. The issues as above apply to this study too because they use the same HepG2.2.15 cells to look at it.
Cheers,
Thomas
Awesome. Thanks for the clarity Thomas! Just looking through stuff on how I can do better health wise. A New Years resolution thing. Lol
I guess the best thing is eat good healthy foods and stay positive.
Happy New Years to All!
Thanks Thomas for the research data! And another significant consideration is that herbal remedies and supplements are NOT regulated here in the U.S. This is a problem because the quality or pureness of a supplement can be suspect. I always think of my brother-in-lawâs father who developed cardiomyopathy (flabby heart muscle) and died prematurely because he was taking an herbal supplement that weakened his heart. A good lesson to learn! But if a person does choose to take a supplement, you should always let your doctors know since some can interact with prescribed medications and cause severe problems.