Maintaining a normal weight for your height is good advice for everyone. People with hepatitis C who are overweight increase the likelihood of fatty deposits in their liver. In some instances they will be advised to reduce their weight in order to avoid or improve fat-related liver abnormalities.
In addition, it is evident that patients with a normal weight have a higher response rate to interferon therapy for hepatitis C.
Overweight patients with a fatty liver who subsequently reduce their weight are likely to experience an improvement in fat-related liver abnormalities. Consequently, people with chronic hepatitis C should try to maintain a normal weight in order to avoid additional stress of their liver.
In fact, people with hepatitis C often find it difficult to maintain their weight, especially if they are experiencing the gastro-intestinal symptoms of nausea, loss of appetite and diarrhoea. These symptoms can get worse on interferon treatment and weight loss can become a problem. If you do find it hard to maintain weight, it can help to eat little and often and try to incorporate complex carbohydrates in the diet.
Optimal Weight
Below are suggested weights for adults based on height without shoes and weight without clothes and shoes. Within the ranges the higher weight is more applicable to men, who tend to have more muscle and bone and the lower ends of the ranges to women.
