What Are the Dietary Adjustment Methods for Acute and Chronic Gastritis?

Gastritis is a common gastric disease, which is mainly divided into acute and chronic types. Although the severity of the disease may vary, its harm is particularly significant. For gastritis patients, besides timely medical treatment, dietary adjustment is also crucial. They need to change previous unhealthy eating habits, eat smaller meals more frequently, chew food thoroughly, and avoid cold and spicy foods. Let's take a look at this aspect.

For patients with moderate gastritis, a diet of soft and low-fiber foods is recommended, similar to the diet for acute gastritis. They should have five meals a day. During the recovery period, they can eat soft and low-fiber meals, with the same content and frequency as for acute gastritis. Four meals a day is appropriate. If calorie intake is insufficient, snacks can be added to complement the diet, such as a cup of milk, two pieces of biscuits, a cup of malt extract, or a boiled egg.

Choose short-fiber, tender meat, fish, poultry, and other meats such as fish, shrimp, chicken, tender beef, and lean pork. For patients with reduced or absent gastric acid secretion, such as those with atrophic gastritis, nitrogen-rich extracts such as fish soup, chicken soup, meat broth, and mushroom soup, as well as porridge, sour-tasting foods, flavorful condiments, and appropriate amounts of sweet and sour foods, can be consumed to enhance gastric juice secretion, increase gastric acid concentration, and improve appetite.

Patients with atrophic gastritis with very low or absent gastric acid secretion often have iron-deficiency anemia. For those with anemia or malnutrition, it is important to increase the intake of protein-rich and heme iron-rich foods in their diet, such as lean meat, fish, chicken, liver, kidneys, and other internal organs, as well as jujube. Attention should also be paid to the supplementation of vitamins C and B, including vitamin B12 and folic acid. Fresh vegetables and fruits, such as tomatoes, eggplants, jujube, and green leafy vegetables, should be consumed in moderation to provide vitamin C and help with iron absorption.

Greasy foods such as fatty meat, cream, and fried foods can delay gastric emptying and increase a feeling of fullness. Stimulating foods such as strong alcohol, chili peppers, onions, curry, pepper, mustard powder, and strong coffee are not conducive to gastric mucosa health. At the same time, avoid eating excessively hard, sour, spicy, salty, cold, hot, or rough foods. Dishes such as cold mixed vegetables and sour and spicy cabbage should be avoided, and the habit of chewing food thoroughly should be cultivated.