Nutrition After Heart Transplant

Your child’s immune system is not as strong as usual because of the medicines they are taking. For this reason, it is important for your child to avoid foods that may make them sick (food-borne illness). Also, you will need to help your child pay special attention to hygiene and handwashing.

Foods to avoid:

• Raw and undercooked meat and seafood, like sushi
• Foods that contain raw, unpasteurized eggs, like salad dressings or cookie dough. Pasteurized eggs can be eaten uncooked, but unpasteurized eggs must be cooked fully.
• Unpasteurized juice, milk, or cheese
• Blue cheeses like Gorgonzola, or Roquefort
• Raw nuts and seeds or roasted nuts in the shell
• Sprouts like alfalfa, clover, or mung bean
• Deli meat (Deli meat is OK to eat if fully cooked and heated to 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Choose packaged deli meat instead of meat cut from a deli when possible.)
• Well water, unless tested for safety
• Kombucha
• Food from street vendors, farm stands, or restaurants that are not regulated by the health department
• Unwashed raw fruit or vegetables
• Any foods cross contaminated by raw meat, fish, poultry, or eggs
• Food that is spoiled, moldy, or past its “use by” date

For more information and a list of foods safe to eat after transplant visit the USDA’s Food Safety “A Need-to-Know Guide for Those at Risk” at fsis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media_file/2021-04/at-risk-booklet.pdf.

Part of taking care of a new heart is making good food choices. Help your child choose foods like fruits and vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains and limit packaged foods like chips, candy, and sugary drinks.

Help your child eat the right amount of food. After heart transplant, your child may need to be on a high calorie diet while they heal. However, your child may gain weight more easily after transplant when their new heart is not burning extra calories.

Eat foods with magnesium

Some medicines, like Tacrolimus and Cyclosporine, will cause the body to get rid of excess magnesium. Most people who have had a heart transplant need to take a magnesium supplement. Your child may be able to take less of the supplement if your child eats foods high in magnesium. Some examples of high magnesium foods are: 

• Bran cereal
• Oatmeal
• Beans
• Quinoa
• Nuts
• Tofu

For more information about magnesium read our handout “Magnesium” at seattlechildrens.org/pdf/PE785.pdf.

Avoid grapefruit and grapefruit juice

Have your child avoid grapefruit and grapefruit juice if they are taking Tacrolimus or Cyclosporine. Having grapefruit can make these medicines not work as well. Check nutrition facts labels for grapefruit; it can be found in drinks like SunnyD, Squirt, sparkling water, and Fresca.

Your child will probably need to follow these diet guidelines forever. Your child’s cardiologist or dietitian will let you know if your child’s diet needs to change in any way.