Jessie has been admitted to the hospital with cirrhosis. She is a 65-year-old widow who is an alcoholic. Jessie is very malnourished. She weighs 98 pounds and is 5?5? tall. She says she stopped drinking 6 months ago because it "hurt her stomach very bad" when she drank

Besides her lack of appetite, why is she malnourished? How has her liver disease contributed to her nutritional status?


The liver is responsible for absorption and use of nutrients as well as for storing iron, copper, zinc, magnesium, fat-soluble vitamins, and the B vitamins. It also synthesizes bile and stores it in the gallbladder. It changes simple sugars to glycogen and provides glucose to the body cells. It converts fats to lipoproteins and synthesizes cholesterol.

Nutritional Science

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