Kimchi juice can reduce muscle spasms in cirrhosis

Severe alcohol abuse often leads to cirrhosis or chronic liver damage, which can be fatal
.
It is also fraught with severe symptoms that may affect the patient's quality of life
.
"People with cirrhosis experience a lot of challenges, such as poor sleep, weakness and muscle cramps," said Elliot Tapper, a hepatologist and associate professor
of internal medicine at Michigan Medical College.
"Even if they're in pain, patients don't always tell their doctor they're experiencing muscle cramps
.
"

Notably, regardless of the severity of the condition, two out of every three people with cirrhosis experience some form of muscle cramps
.

"We investigated hundreds of people with
cirrhosis.
We found that muscle cramps had the greatest impact on their quality of daily life compared to other cirrhosis-related symptoms," Tapper said
.
"This is worrying because cramps can cause pain, interfere with sleep, and severely limit a person's mobility
.
"

Tapper notes that treatments for cramps are "very limited," which is why he and a group of experts decided to conduct research into the effects of consuming kimchi juice on improving cirrhosis.
Their study was recently published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

"In previous studies, one tablespoon of kimchi juice has been shown to be effective in stopping experimentally induced spasms," Tapper said
.
"It's the acid in the saline that triggers the nerves in the back of the throat and then eliminates the cramps
.
So, it makes
sense for us to explore this new angle of cirrhosis cramps.
”

The research team enrolled a total of 82 patients with
cirrhosis.
Each participant reported experiencing more than four severe muscle cramps
in the previous month.

During the 28-day study, patients were randomly selected to join either the pickle juice group or the control group, which drank only tap water
.

"During the study, people in the tap water group were asked to use tap water, while people in the pickle juice group were asked to buy pickles
of their own choosing.
As long as they're dill or kosher pickles — not sweetened and/or bread and butter," Tapper said
.

"People with cirrhosis experience a lot of things, such as poor sleep, weakness and muscle spasms
.
And patients don't always tell doctors that they are experiencing muscle spasms
.
”

Patients were then asked to record the time, location, and duration
of muscle spasms within the study window.
They were also asked to drink a tablespoon of pickle juice or a small sip of tap water
at the start of the cramp.

"We also conducted follow-up assessments of patients, sending them automated messages via SMS services on a pre-set schedule to determine the frequency and severity
of cramps," Tapper said.
"This method also assessed how often
they drank tap water or kimchi juice, according to research guidelines.
"

The team found that kimchi juice reduced the severity
of muscle cramps more than tap water.

"More patients in the pickle juice group reported that their cramps were stopped by the intervention — 69 percent, compared to 40 percent in the tap group," Tapper said
.
"But pickle juice didn't improve overall quality of life, probably because it didn't prevent cramps
.
"

Tapper notes that kimchi juice is a "low-cost, widely available, and safe first-line treatment for liver cramps in cirrhosis" compared to other existing treatments for muscle cramps.

"If this study has anything to take, I want people to know that muscle cramps are common and that people with cirrhosis have multiple unmet needs that unnecessarily reduce their quality of life," Tapper said
.
"I'm excited about these findings because we have some simple things that might help
.
" Hope is there
.
”