Effects of nocturnal snacks on body composition in patients with liver cirrhosis

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of enrolled patients with liver cirrhosis and healthy controls

Variable	Healthy control subjects	Liver cirrhosis patients	P value
Participants (n)	30	70	-
Age (year)	53 ± 6.2	56.1 ± 5.1	0.199
Women, n (%)	14 (46.7)	31 (44.3)	0.826
BMI (kg/m2)	24.8 ± 4.1	22.5 ± 3.7	0.413
Energy intake (kcal/day)	2443 ± 473	2264 ± 642	0.031
TBW (L)	40.04 ± 6.67	40.25 ± 9.38	0.221
ICW (L)	26.84 ± 6.36	25.62 ± 6.32	0.316
ECW (L)	14.81 ± 2.50	14.63 ± 3.41	0.332
TBP (kg)	10.91 ± 1.80	11.09 ± 2.73	0.153
Mineral (kg)	3.67 ± 0.61	4.03± 1.07	0.341
BFM (kg)	21.27 ± 6.74	14.38 ± 6.63	< 0.001
SMM (kg)	33.91 ± 5.49	21.42 ± 8.22	< 0.001
FFM (kg)	54.63 ± 3.08	48.02 ± 3.85	< 0.001
PBF (%)	27.77 ± 7.50	20.37 ± 8.13	0.227
WHR	0.90 ± 0.05	0.83 ± 0.14	0.612
VFA (cm2)	95.61 ± 3.78	66.32 ± 3.50	< 0.001
BCM (kg)	36.16 ± 3.04	31.72 ± 2.02	< 0.001

BMI: Body mass index; TBW: Total body water; ICW: Intracellular water; ECW: Extracellular water; TBP: Total body protein; BFM: Body fat mass; SMM: Skeletal muscle mass; FFM: Fat-free mass; PBF: Percentage body fat; WHR: Waist-to-hip fat ratio; VFA: Visceral fat area; BCM: Body cell mass.

Table 2 Basic information of patients with liver cirrhosis in the normal diet and nocturnal snacks groups

Variable	Normal diet group	Nocturnal snacks group	P value
Patients (n)	35	35	-
Age (year)	54.8 ± 4.9	57.3 ± 4.7	0.173
Women, n (%)	13 (37.1)	18 (51.4)	0.229
BMI (kg/m2)	24.8 ± 3.9	24.60 ± 2.9	0.611
Pathogenesis, n (%)			0.444
HBV	21 (60.0)	26 (74.3)
HCV	6 (17.1)	4 (11.4)
Alcoholic	8 (22.9)	5 (14.3)
ALT (IU/L)	72.3 ± 64.7	89.6 ± 73.5	0.586
AST (IU/L)	89 (37,153)	82 (41,160)	0.510
Albumin (g/L)	35.6 ± 6.8	35.1 ± 6.5	0.824
Total bilirubin (μmol/L)	129 (43,215)	112 (41,224)	0.786
Prothrombin time (s)	16.8 ± 7.4	15.5 ± 6.1	0.572
INR	1.48 ± 0.6	1.37 ± 0.5	0.578
Urea nitrogen (mmol/L)	8.0 ± 2.3	6.0 ± 2.1	0.520
Serum creatinine (μmol/L)	56.9 ± 11.3	59.9 ± 15.1	0.509
Ascites, n (%)	24 (68.6)	27 (77.1)	0.420
Child–Turcotte–Pugh, n (%)			0.939
A	5 (14.3)	6 (17.1)
B	15 (42.9)	14 (40.0)
C	15 (42.9)	15 (42.9)

BMI: Body mass index; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate transferase; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; INR: International normalized ratio.

Table 3 Comparison of body composition before intervention between the normal diet and nocturnal snacks groups

Body composition indexes	Normal diet group (n = 35)	Nocturnal snacks group (n = 35)	P value
TBW (L)	39.73 ± 7.14	41.80 ± 7.10	0.414
ICW (L)	25.14 ± 4.33	26.24 ± 2.64	0.309
ECW (L)	14.59 ± 2.41	15.56 ± 2.79	0.229
ECW/TBW (%)	37.62 ± 3.22	37.22 ± 4.17	0.332
TBP (kg)	12.09 ± 2.73	10.73 ± 1.88	0.479
Mineral (kg)	7.07 ± 3.12	5.97 ± 2.68	0.872
BFM (kg)	13.72 ± 2.23	15.71 ± 3.16	0.178
SMM (kg)	22.19 ± 2.19	20.38 ± 2.65	0.520
FFM (kg)	50.21 ± 2.17	47.52 ± 2.64	0.509
PBF (%)	21.19 ± 7.19	19.48 ± 4.16	0.711
WHR	0.81 ± 0.24	0.84 ± 0.06	0.332
VFA (cm2)	67.12 ± 1.17	65.93 ± 2.67	0.175
BCM (kg)	30.33 ± 1.02	32.16 ± 1.21	0.648

TBW: Total body water; ICW: Intracellular water; ECW: Extracellular water; TBP: Total body protein; BFM: Body fat mass; SMM: Skeleton muscle mass; FFM: Fat-free mass; PBF: Percentage body fat; WHR: Waist-to-hip fat ratio; VFA: Visceral fat area; BCM: Body cell mass.

Table 4 Survey of daily activity levels of the two groups during the intervention, n (%)

Daily activity volume	Normal diet group (n = 35)	Nocturnal snacks group (n = 35)	P value
Low-level activity	9 (25.7)	9 (25.7)	0.921
Medium-level activity	23 (65.7)	22 (62.9)
High-level of activity	3 (8.6)	4 (11.4)

Table 5 Comparison of basic information of patients with liver cirrhosis in the normal diet and nocturnal snacks groups at the end of the observation

Variable	Normal diet group (n = 35)	Nocturnal snacks group (n = 35)	P value
ALT (IU/L)	31.5 ± 10.6	29.0 ± 11.2	0.615
AST (IU/L)	38.1 ± 19.2	39.1 ± 13.3	0.894
Albumin (g/L)	34.6 ± 4.3	34.1 ± 4.7	0.762
Total bilirubin (μmol/L)	29.9 ± 25.8	19.2 ± 10.2	0.238
Prothrombin time (s)	13.5 ± 2.6	13.5 ± 1.7	0.732
INR	1.2 ± 0.2	1.3 ± 0.2	0.723
Urea nitrogen (mmol/L)	5.4 ± 2.7	4.9 ± 0.9	0.582
Serum creatinine (μmol/L)	69.1 ± 12.1	65.7 ± 12.0	0.537
Ascites, n (%)	22 (62.9)	23 (65.7)	0.803
Child–Turcotte–Pugh, n (%)			0.945
A	7 (20.0)	6 (17.1)
B	15 (42.9)	15 (42.9)
C	13 (37.1)	14 (40.0)

ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate transferase; INR: International normalized ratio.