Gallbladder Diet and Calculations

Generality

What is the diet for gallbladder stones used for?

The diet for gallbladder stones (or biliary lithiasis) is NOT a curative diet, but a preventive one. This is because solid crystals, once formed in the gall bladder, are totally insoluble and therefore irreversible with the simple dietary intervention.

Gallbladder diet: is it important?

The role of diet in the appearance and prevention, primary and secondary, of gallbladder and biliary tract stones is often overlooked, due to the numerous risk factors that come into play in the origin of this pathology.

On the other hand, most diseases have a multi-factorial origin and this explains why some people - despite following a rather unregulated high-risk diet for the development of certain diseases - never go against these diseases, and vice versa.

Nevertheless, given the facts, there is no doubt that some eating habits and particular lifestyles cover, more than others, a leading role in the etiopathogenesis of some diseases.

Risk factors

What are the risk factors for gallbladder stones?

Regarding the calculations of the gallbladder and biliary tract, these risk elements materialize:

• In overweight
• In obesity
• In the sedentary lifestyle
• In the excessive intake of animal fats and carbohydrates
• In the insufficient supply of fibers, especially of the soluble ones.

Protective Factors

What are the protective factors towards gallbladder stones?

Beyond the risk factors listed above, there are numerous controversies about which foods, and more generally dietary habits, are useful in preventing gallbladder and biliary tract calculations.

Among the scientific evidence accepted in a fairly unanimous way, it seems that the increase in physical activity and the gradual reduction of body weight are rather useful elements in the prophylaxis of this pathology.

Graduation of Weight Loss

As pointed out, weight loss must be gradual and not too sudden, element - the latter - which seems to increase the risk of formation of crystalline aggregates; this risk would become concrete for weight reductions above 1.5 kg per week, a typical consequence of "yo-yo diets".

Even prolonged fasting - increasing the residence time of bile in the gall bladder - seems to favor the appearance of gallstones; this justifies the advice to consume small and frequent meals to prevent their occurrence.

Food and Protective Nutrients

Among the other protective factors with regard to gall bladder and biliary tract stones, the preference for monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (deriving from the consumption of fish oil, vegetable oils, such as olive oil, and dried fruit, is fully included) such as almonds or walnuts) compared to saturated fats (of animal origin, such as butter, lard and, in general, meat and dairy fats).

Also the vegetarian diet, and in general the preference for vegetable proteins compared to animal ones, has been reported as a positive factor in the prevention of gallbladder stones.

Finally, coffee consumption - strictly caffeinated - or caffeine supplementation, could prove useful in the prevention of this disease.

Diet as a Cause and Prevention

Main mechanisms of gall stone formation

Regarding the dietary pathogenesis of gallbladder stones, we summarize the following:

• One of the most important factors that lead to the formation of gallstones is the supersaturation of cholesterol in bile, with consequent precipitation of the lipid.
• This precipitation can occur both due to the excess of cholesterol itself and to the lack of substances that keep it in solution (such as phospholipids and bile salts).
• Another predisposing factor is prolonged dehydration, which by concentrating the bile emphasizes the supersaturation we mentioned above.
• Also the insufficient emptying of the gallbladder or too long periods between one emptying and the other can favor the separation - precipitation of the biliary components.

Role of sugars and insulin

It is hypothesized that the high intake of alimentary sugars, besides predisposing to obesity, increases the synthesis of cholesterol as a consequence of the increased insulin stimulus.

Role of "bad fats"

Cholesterol levels in the body increase by:

• The direct dietary intake of cholesterol
• Excessive intake of saturated and hydrogenated fats in the diet

Role of fiber and lecithins

The scarcity of dietary fiber and lecithins (which reduce enteric absorption of dietary and biliary cholesterol) is considered a predisposing factor to gallstones.

Furthermore, a diet rich in vegetable fibers, such as bran, opposes the saturation of bile, preventing gallbladder stones.

Moreover, the phospholipids contained in the lecithins, once absorbed, go to make up the bile and keep the suspension stable, preventing the precipitation of cholesterol. For this reason, the role of eggs in the onset of gallbladder stones is controversial; they are in fact foods rich in cholesterol (favoring factor), but also in lecithin (protective factor), both concentrated in the yolk.

Considering that part of the cholesterol poured into the choledochus in the form of bile acids is eliminated with the faeces, also the constipation seems to predispose to the development of the calculi to the gallbladder; also in this sense the fibers and an adequate water supply represent a protective factor.

Role of vitamin C

Even the specific integration of vitamin C would seem useful in preventive terms.

Of course, as for all the evidences emerged during the article, the conditional is a must; in fact, in the onset of calculosis many other factors come into play, such as genetic predisposition, diabetes, and the intake of some estrogen-based drugs (substitution therapy in menopause and birth control pills), which increase the concentration of cholesterol in the gall bladder and reduce its contractility.

General bibliography

Altern Med Rev. 2009 Sep; 14 (3): 258-67.

Gaby AR.