Healthy Habits to Manage Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (2024)

FAQs

Healthy Habits to Manage Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency? ›

Treatments include: Pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT): This prescription medication is a substitute for the missing digestive enzymes. You take PERT with meals to help your body break down nutrients in food. High-calorie, high-fat diet: It's important to get enough calories and fat with your meals.

Treatments include: Pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT): This prescription medication is a substitute for the missing digestive enzymes. You take PERT with meals to help your body break down nutrients in food. High-calorie, high-fat diet: It's important to get enough calories and fat with your meals.

Drinking plenty of fluids is crucial to managing EPI. “Good hydration buffers the pancreas and helps it function more properly,” Dr. Glessing says. Drink plain water and limit sugary drinks, fruit juices, and caffeinated beverages, which can counteract the hydrating effects of water.

EPI is not reversible, but treatment and certain lifestyle changes can help people manage their symptoms. Any disease that can impact the tissue in the pancreas can cause EPI.

Eat a variety of vegetables and fruits. These are high in nutrition and low in fat. Eat whole grain cereals, breads, crackers, rice, or pasta.

In general, highly processed foods are harder for your body to digest (with or without EPI); examples include microwaveable meals, meat products, and breakfast cereals. Consult with your doctor or nutritionist for individual dietary recommendations as part of your overall EPI management plan.

What is the best vitamin for EPI? ›

Eating a healthy diet and limiting your exposure to harmful substances, like tobacco and alcohol, can help keep your pancreas and your entire digestive system working properly.

This diet advice is the same for people with EPI as it is for everyone: Skip the cookies and candy to avoid simple sugars and empty calories. A good alternative is fruit salad made with melon, oranges, bananas, apples, and pears.

Sometimes it is best to rest the pancreas and limit your food intake. If you are experiencing a flare, your doctor may even recommend no food for a day or two. A diet of clear liquids can be followed when pain is severe. Clear liquids include apple, cranberry and white grape juice, gelatin and broth.

EPI's Advantage: Egg whites give protein, while veggies provide fibre and vital vitamins and minerals for EPI. Add more low-fat cheese to boost the protein and calcium content.

If you have exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) there are lots of reasonably healthy, high-calorie foods you can eat, like cheese and full fat milk, hamburger with cheese, meat coated in breadcrumbs, nuts, ice cream and full fat yogurts. The calorie content of food is usually printed on the packaging.

It is possible to treat exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI), and those with the condition can have a good quality of life. However, without treatment, EPI can cause serious complications and even death. Some people with EPI may have other underlying conditions that may shorten life expectancy.

If EPI is left untreated, malnutrition-related morbidity, poor quality of life, and potentially serious complications, including death, might occur.

Pancreatic enzyme products (PEPs) are a combination of porcine-derived amylases, lipases and proteases and are used to treat exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI). They mimic digestive enzymes secreted by the pancreas and act in the duodenum and proximal small intestine.