Hello! I’m a solid organ transplant recipient. So, I’m sure @loribmt and other stem cell recipients can offer you more specific advice to meet your needs. I know on my transplant team we have two excellent nutritionists who have always been very happy to answer my questions.

Also, I’m working with another transplant recipient on Connect to start a Cooking for Transplant Recipients Culinary Arts webinar series. We are hoping that both solid organ and stem cell transplant recipients will join. Here’s the link for more info-https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/transplant-culinary-arts-zoom-sessions/

I’ve been researching diet and meal plans/recipes to share with participants in the webinars. Last night I happened to be researching stem cell diet resources. I found a lot of resources just by doing a Google search. And, I did also research on diet tips for GVHD, as I know it is a huge concern. I’m putting together a resource list with hyperlinks which I’d be happy to share.

Diet and exercise are certainly key to helping become and stay healthy following our transplants.

I’m having stone-aged internet issues this week which is really impeding my responses and testing my patience! LOL You posed a really great question so I’m happy to see @athenalee pop in with answers because I was going to tag her into this conversation! She’s a guru when it comes to health and well-being of our bodies through foods in our diets!

A while back I discussed this with my transplant team. What can be done to avoid GvHD of the liver (and in general) The only GvHD I have right now is a slight indication of “potential” liver issues because of minor elevations in my liver function numbers, similar to yours.
A lot of our GvHD is simply hit and miss. It’s whatever our immune system decides needs fixing and starts these ‘little fires’ in our bodies that have to be stomped out with prednisone or other anti inflammatory meds. So whatever we can do to avoid inflammation is one proactive thing we can do to avoid getting those new cells all riled up…such as avoiding any illness, avoiding sun, toxins, etc.

There are some research discussions regarding Choline in the diet. It’s being studied for potential issues within the gut biome which can cause inflammation, which in turn may cause GvHD. But it’s not proven and most of these foods on the Choline list are more important to our overall health than any speculation.
They include eggs, fish, beef, soybeans, wheat germ, chicken, turkey, cruciferous veggies, almonds, dried beans, cottage cheese…you get the picture!

So, the talk with my team focused more on what foods are GOOD for the liver rather than avoiding the Choline rich foods. And because some of the good foods contain choline, it’s really a matter of keeping a healthy body through diet, exercise and water intake.

There are liver specific foods which help promote the health of the organ.

Eating the Rainbow ~ fresh veggies and fruit filled with antioxidants
Oatmeal
Broccoli
Coffee
Green Tea
Water
Almonds-nuts
Spinach
Blueberries
Herbs & spices

AVOID
Fried foods
Too much sugar
Alcoholic beverages
Unhealthy snacks
Acetaminophen (on a daily basis)