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The liver is not something you probably think much about, but it is a key player in your body’s digestive system. Everything you eat or drink, including medicine, passes through it. You need to take care of your liver so it can stay healthy and do its job.
What Is The Main Function Of The Liver?
It is the liver that regulates the majority of chemical levels in the blood, and it also excretes a substance called bile. By doing so, waste products are carried away from the liver. A liver filter is responsible for filtering all blood leaving the stomach and intestines. By breaking down, balancing, and creating nutrients from this blood, the liver also metabolizes drugs into forms that are easier to use by the rest of the body. There are more than 500 vital functions associated with the liver.
Some of the more well-known functions include the following:
- Production of certain proteins for blood plasma
- Production of bile, which helps carry away waste and break down fats in the small intestine during digestion
- Production of cholesterol and special proteins to help carry fats through the body
- Regulation of blood levels of amino acids, which form the building blocks of proteins
- Conversion of excess glucose into glycogen for storage and to balance and make glucose as needed
- Processing of hemoglobin for use of its iron content
- Clearing the blood of drugs and other poisonous substances
- Conversion of poisonous ammonia to urea
- Regulating blood clotting
- Clearance of bilirubin, also from red blood cells. If there is an accumulation of bilirubin, the skin and eyes turn yellow
- Resisting infections by making immune factors and removing bacteria from the bloodstream
By-products of the liver’s breakdown of harmful substances are excreted into the bile or blood. Feces are formed from bile by-products that enter the intestine. The kidneys filter out blood by-products, which leave the body through urine.
What Are Some Diseases Of A Liver?
Infections
Immune System Problems
Your immune system fights off invaders including bacteria and viruses. But it might go wrong and attack one or more parts of your body, such as your liver. Conditions that may occur include:
- Autoimmune hepatitis
- Primary biliary cholangitis
- Primary sclerosing cholangitis
Cancer and Tumors
If cancer shows up in your liver, that’s most likely because it has spread from another part of your body, like your lungs, colon, or breasts. But a few cancers can start in the liver. Conditions may include:
- Liver cancer
- Bile duct cancer
- Liver cell adenoma
Conditions You Inherit
Some inherited liver disorders only happen if they run in your family such as:
- Hemochromatosis
- Hyperoxaluria
- Wilson’s disease
- Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency
What Are Some Ways To Take Care Of The Liver?
The best way to fight liver disease is to avoid it, if at all possible. Here are ways to achieve liver wellness:
- Maintain a healthy weight. Weight loss can play an important part in helping to reduce liver fat.
- Eat a balanced diet. Avoid high-calorie meals, saturated fat, refined carbohydrates, and sugars.
- Exercise regularly. When you exercise consistently, it helps to burn triglycerides for fuel and can also reduce liver fat.
- Avoid toxins. Toxins can injure liver cells. Don’t smoke.
- Use alcohol responsibly. Alcoholic beverages can create many health problems.
- Don’t share personal hygiene items. For example, razors, toothbrushes, and nail clippers can carry microscopic levels of blood or other body fluids that may be contaminated.
- Practice safe sex. Unprotected sex or sex with multiple partners increases your risk of hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
- Wash your hands. Use soap and warm water right away after using the bathroom, when you have changed a diaper, and before preparing or eating food.
- Follow directions on all medications. When medicines are taken incorrectly by taking too much, the wrong type, or by mixing medicines, your liver can be harmed. Never mix alcohol with other drugs and medications even if they’re not taken at the same time. Tell your doctor about any over-the-counter medicines, supplements, and natural or herbal remedies that you use.
- Get vaccinated. There are vaccines for hepatitis A and hepatitis B. Unfortunately, there’s no vaccine against the hepatitis C virus.
Recommended herbal supplement to help with liver functions:
- Milk Thistle – this is a natural treatment for liver problems. Milk thistle extract has a high amount of silymarin. It has been traditionally used to treat liver problems. It is rich in anti-oxidant and has an anti-inflammatory effect.
