Nutrition for Liver & Metabolic Health

Whether you’ve been diagnosed with chronic liver disease—such as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD, also known as “fatty liver”), viral hepatitis, or autoimmune liver conditions—or simply want to take proactive steps to protect your liver, this group medical visit series offers expert guidance, medical consultation, practical tools, and a supportive community to help you enhance your liver health through the power of healthy eating. Designed with individuals living with liver disease in mind, this series is also ideal for anyone looking to understand how daily habits can promote liver function, reduce inflammation, and improve long-term well-being.

Food is not just fuel—it’s information for your liver. The liver plays a central role in converting food into nutrients, regulating blood sugar and fat metabolism, and detoxifying harmful substances. In chronic liver disease, these processes can become disrupted, and the liver becomes more vulnerable to the effects of excess sugar, saturated fat, and ultra-processed foods. But dietary choices can also be a powerful tool for healing. This series will explore how food—what you eat, how much, and how often—can be used strategically to reduce liver inflammation, improve metabolic health, and prevent disease progression. You’ll learn how to do this in a realistic, sustainable way, without restrictive diets or one-size-fits-all rules—just practical, personalized approaches grounded in science and built for long-term success.

In this interactive series, Dr. Jennifer Lai—triple board certified in hepatology, nutrition, and integrative health at UCSF—will guide participants through the science and practice of liver-supportive nutrition. As a NIH-funded researcher for over a decade, Dr. Lai brings deep clinical and scientific expertise to this program. Sessions will blend evidence-based education with practical tools to help you make informed, sustainable changes. You’ll leave with a deeper understanding of how food impacts not only your liver, but your energy, metabolism, gut health, and overall sense of well-being—because supporting your liver is a powerful step toward improving your whole health.

Each 90-minute session combines evidence-based interventions, group discussion, personal reflection, and lifestyle strategies you can begin using right away. The sessions are designed to help you build a deeper understanding of liver health while developing sustainable eating habits to support long-term wellness.

You’ll learn how liver health connects to metabolism, energy balance, gut health, and more—and how healthy eating plays a key role in all of it. Topics include:

• Understanding Liver Health: What your liver does, what labs and imaging really mean, and how to assess your own liver health 
• Eating for a Healthy Liver: Simple shifts to your eating pattern that can reduce liver inflammation and improve metabolic health
• Sugar, Fiber, and the Microbiome: How your gut and liver communicate—and how food can improve or disrupt the conversation
• Navigating Supplements: How to make safe, evidence-based decisions about over-the-counter vitamins and botanical supplements
• From Knowledge to Action: Tools to support behavior change, overcome barriers, and create lasting habits