Effect of zinc supplementation in patients with cirrhosis and dysgeusia

Juárez-Hernández, E.; López-Méndez, I.; Uribe, M.; Chávez-Tapia, N.

doi:10.1016/j.aohep.2022.100793

ISSN: 1665-2681

Annals of Hepatology (AoH) is an international, open access journal published bi-monthly with funds from the Fundación Clínica Médica Sur. It is the official journal of the Mexican Association of Hepatology (AMH), the Latin American Association for the Study of the Liver (ALEH), the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver (CASL) and the Czech Society of Hepatology (CSH). AoH publishes editorials, opinions, concise reviews, original articles, brief reports, letters to the editor, news from affiliated associations, clinical practice guidelines and summaries of congresses in the field of Hepatology.

Topics covered by AoH include alcoholic liver disease, autoimmune hepatitis, biliary diseases, drug-induced liver injury, genetic liver diseases, NAFLD/NASH and viral hepatitis (HAV, HBV, HCV, HDV, HEV). Our journal seeks to publish articles on basic clinical care and translational research focused on preventing rather than treating the complications of end-stage liver disease.

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Randomized clinical trial, double-blind, controlled with placebo of 34 patients. The intervention consisted of 100mg/day of zinc for six months. Improvement of dysgeusia was evaluated according to changes in perception (PT) and recognition (RT) thresholds of five flavors. Nutrient consumption was evaluated by SNUT questionnaire. Meanwhile, quality of life (QoL) was evaluated by LDQOL questionnaire. The trial was approved by the research ethics committee, and informed consent was obtained.

Results

50% (n=17) of patients were male, 76.5% (n=26) presented PT dysgeusia, meanwhile 85%(n=29) presented RT dysgeusia; salty and umami were the most affected flavors. Twenty-eight patients accomplished the follow-up. PT dysgeusia showed significant improvement in the intervention group. (28.6% vs 57.1%, p=0.004) (Figure). Changes in RT and evaluation of each flavor did not show. Patients of intervention group increased protein consumption (61.8 g [48.6-67.1] vs 57.1g [39.5-60.5], p=0.05). According to QoL, patients with zinc supplementation showed higher punctuation of the worry domain (6.0 [5.2-6.4] vs. 4.4[2.9-5.5], p=0.007) and global QoL. (5.5[5.1-6.1] vs 5.0[4.7-5.8], p=0.05)

Discussion

The presence of dysgeusias in patients with cirrhosis could have a negative impact on nutritional status and its consequences; zinc supplementation seems to be a treatment option in these patients.

Conclusions

Zinc supplementation improves the PT, protein consumption and global QoL in patients with cirrhosis and dysgeusia.

Funding

The resources used in this study were from the hospital without any additional financing.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.

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