Abstract

Introduction: The liver is the largest gland in the human body, and serves to store nutrients and neutralize harmful compounds. The liver plays a very important role in a number of metabolic, both catabolic and anabolic processes, and is therefore called the „central laboratory“ of the organism. If liver disease occurs, they can affect all its parts–liver cells, bile ducts, blood and lymph vessels. The liver is damaged by various toxins, drugs, infections, disturbances in the blood supply and other disorders. Diet therapy has been a part of the process in the treatment of liver disease for a while. The therapeutic principle is better known as the „liver diet“. The liver diet not only means the replenishment of calories and nutrients, but it significantly affects the course of the disease. Aim: The aim of the research is to show that diet therapy plays an important role in the treatment of liver disease as a component for faster recovery of the liver and restoration of its normal function, as well as protecting the liver after overcoming the disease. Results: Among the respondents, there were 39 men (64%) and 22 women (36%) who had liver disease as a chronic condition. Most respondents are between 51 and 65 years old (28 and 46%, respectively), while the least number of respondents are in the 20 to 30 age group. The largest number of respondents cited alcohol as the cause of the disease, 31 of them (50.8%), while the virus was the cause of the disease in 15 respondents (24.5%). Of the total sample, most respondents answered that they sometimes (45.9%) or often (47.5%) overeat. The results of the questionnaire showed that 85.2% of the respondents were smokers before the diagnosis of the disease. In most respondents, the food they ate before diagnosis was moderately fatty (52.5%). Using chi-square tests, it was found that there are statistically significant differences in the consumption of almost all foods before the diagnosis of the disease and after the obtained dietary recommendations (p

Key words: liver disease, diet therapy, treatment, outcome.