Did You Know?

The liver is one of the vital organs of the body, responsible for hundreds of chemical actions that the body needs to survive. It is also a gland, as it secretes chemicals that are used by other parts of the body. The liver is therefore both an organ and a gland.

The liver's main job is to filter the blood coming from the digestive tract, before passing it to the rest of the body. It is responsible for breaking down insulin and other hormones in the body. The liver also detoxifies chemicals and metabolizes drugs. It converts ammonia, a byproduct of metabolism in the body, into urea, which is excreted in the urine by the kidneys.

Protected by the rib cage, the liver has two large sections— the right and the left lobes. The gallbladder sits under the liver, along with parts of the pancreas and intestines. The liver and these organs work together to digest, absorb, and process food. The bile secreted by the liver helps in the digestion of fats from food.

The multi-functional liver makes many of the chemicals required by the body to function normally. It also breaks down and detoxifies substances in the body, and acts as a storage unit. For example, the liver makes proteins important for blood clotting and other functions. It is responsible for manufacturing cholesterol and triglycerides, producing carbohydrates and turning glucose into glycogen, which can be stored both in the liver and in muscle cells.

Vitamins and chemicals that the body requires as building blocks are also stored in the liver. These include, vitamin B12, folic acid, iron (required to make red blood cells), vitamin A (for vision), vitamin D (for calcium absorption) and vitamin K (to help blood clot properly).

How to take care of your liver
Taking care of the liver is crucial to the maintenance of good health. According to Ray Chung, MD, medical director of liver transplant program at Massachusetts General Hospital, “Taking care of your liver is more about avoiding what’s bad than it is about eating or drinking things that are particularly nourishing to the liver.”

Here are some tips to keep your liver healthy:

• Don’t drink a lot of alcohol. It can damage the liver and lead to the swelling or scarring of tissue, turning into cirrhosis, which can be fatal. The U.S. government guidelines recommend no more than two alcoholic beverages a day for men and only one for women.
• Eat healthy foods and exercise regularly. By keeping your weight under control, you will help prevent nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, which in turn leads to cirrhosis.
• Be aware of the drugs you are prescribed and exercise caution. Some medicines can hurt the liver if you take too much. For example, cholesterol medications and the painkiller acetaminophen can be harmful to the liver in large dosages. There are also medications that are harmful to the liver when combined with alcohol or other drugs. Discuss your medications with your doctor or pharmacist.
• Learn how to prevent hepatitis. This is a disease that harms your liver and is fairly common and easy to contract. Because hepatitis can be asymptomatic, if you have had contact with the virus, get tested or at least discuss with your physician whether you need to take a blood test.
• Avoid toxins. Cleaning products, aerosol products, insecticides, chemicals and additives in cigarettes—these all have ingredients that can be damaging to the liver. Avoid direct contact whenever possible, and don’t smoke.

The liver is an organ that helps sustain life. There is currently no way to compensate for the lack of liver function, so transplantation is the only remedy if there is a complete failure. It therefore is imperative to take good care of the liver, as with any vital organ.

The liver works so closely with the digestive tract that common sense would recommend taking DIGESTIVE+++ daily to keep the entire digestive system working optimally.