Love your liver
The body’s poison control center is already overworked.
Q: Dr. Scott, I’ve been told by my doctor that my liver isn’t healthy. What can I do to help with my liver damage?
A: Your liver is a football-sized organ located in your right upper abdomen and it has over 500 functions. Fortunately, the liver is approximately six times larger than necessary; in other words, you could function adequately with only 1/6 of your liver. This is fortunate because the liver is probably the most assaulted organ in the body. In most people it is overworked in today’s environment.
The liver plays an important role in digestive functions, especially in fat metabolism. It is important in controlling triglycerides, cholesterol, other blood fats and body fat levels.
Toxic materials are turned into non-toxic substances for excretion; the liver is our Poison Control Center. If the detoxification process is inadequate, the toxic substances are returned to the bowel to be reabsorbed or interfere with digestive processes.
The liver removes excessive hormones from the body, helping maintain hormonal balance. For example, the anti-diuretic hormone (water retention hormone) is eliminated by the liver when excessive. If the liver is not functioning adequately, an individual may have swelling — usually in the legs or abdomen — because of water retention.
Some of the sex hormones are formed and also deactivated by the liver (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone). Failure here can cause menstrual problems, swelling with premenstrual syndrome, and other disturbing conditions. A recent scientific report was published on the successful treatment of menopause in 10 women, without using hormone, and liver function improvements were essential in almost every case. (Cuthbert, 2013)
There may be a disturbance in sugar handling because the liver is a major sugar storehouse. It is responsible for many sugar conversion factors within the body.
An adequate diet is only the first step toward adequate nutrition. The liver is paramount in converting many food products into bioactive forms that are used in the body. Nutritional supplements may be useless if the liver does not properly activate the nutrients into their bioactive forms.
Virtually every nutrient — vitamins, minerals and amino acids — must be transformed into proper biochemical form in which the nutrient may be stored, transported or used in cellular metabolism. The liver stores iron, vitamin B12, and the folic acid that is so good for our hair.
These are just a few of the liver’s many, many functions. In this brief review we haven’t touched on important items such as the liver’s role in cholesterol, essential fatty acid, protein, and sugar metabolism. You are also at risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) if you are overweight or obese. Purging your body of daily toxins in the form of sweat and regaining a healthy weight are great ideas for your liver.
Symptoms of liver disorders
A liver that is overloaded and incapable of taking care of bodily needs can cause a wide variety of symptoms, because the liver has so many separate and distinct functions affecting health in many ways.
Symptoms of mild liver involvement may include severe fatigue, feeling tired after meals, digestive disturbances, nausea, foul smelling gas, constipation, diarrhea, swelling, a constant chilled feeling, sensitive gums, too much perspiration, and poor appetite. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, obstruction of liver energy can cause depression, mood swings, and irrational anger and temper flare-ups. PMS symptoms including breast soreness and sensitivity, depression, and irritability may be liver related. There may be an inability to tolerate medications due to improper breakdown and elimination of drugs, with an increasing number of side effects. Aching joints and muscles, headaches, insomnia, difficulty waking, poor memory, and difficulty concentrating may be liver related. Signs of many types of nutritional deficiencies may be apparent.
Certain drugs or combinations of drugs can damage the liver, especially if you also drink alcohol. These include acetaminophen (Tylenol) and cholesterol-lowering medications (statins).
Most laboratory tests for liver function are for frank liver disease processes. Of course, it is important to be able to test for these disease processes; however, it is much better to be able to discover liver dysfunction in its early stages, before irreversible disease processes develop. Because the liver is so important in many different functions in the total health picture, it should be evaluated periodically to eliminate problems before they begin.
Milk thistle is a marvelous flowering plant of the daisy family that stimulates regeneration of liver cells and helps protect them from toxic injury. Take two capsules of an extract standardized to 70 to 80 percent silymarin two or three times daily if you have existing liver disease or are at high risk for it.
Remember, the liver is much larger than necessary for actual body needs. If a problem shows — even on a minimal level — the liver is already significantly overloaded.
Dr. Scott Cuthbert is the chief clinician at the Chiropractic Health Center in Pueblo, Colorado, as well as the author of two new textbooks and over 50 peer-reviewed research articles. PuebloChiropracticCenter.com.
