On 19 April every year, World Liver Day is observed worldwide to spread awareness about liver-related conditions, diseases, and how to keep your liver healthy.
The liver is the second-largest and a complex body organ. It is critical for your body’s digestive system. Everything we intake, including medicine, passes through the liver.
The liver can be easily damaged if you don’t take good care of it, and you can’t survive without it.
It performs numbers of complex functions, including:
The liver receives blood with nutrients via a vein known as the portal vein from the digestive organs.
The liver cells, recognized as hepatocytes, filter this blood and act as distributing centers, determining which nutrient should be stored, processed, sent back, and eliminated via stool.
It stores and releases vitamins and minerals such as copper and iron when the body needs them.
It also aids in breaking down the fat from the food. It either stores the fat or releases it as energy.
It also produces an approximated 800 to 1,000 milliliters of bile every day.
This bile is carried to the small intestine through a bile duct. The small intestine uses bile juice to break down fats further. The remaining extra bile is stored in the gallbladder.
The liver also breaks down fats, and through this process, ammonia gets produced as a by-product, which can be noxious to the body in substantial amounts.
Then the liver turns ammonia into urea and releases it into the bloodstream, where the kidneys discharge it via urine.
The liver breaks down any medications or alcohol in the blood as well.
As if these functions weren’t sufficient, the liver also breaks down damaged and old RBCs.
Considering all of these factors, it’s easy to see how significant the liver is to a person’s well-being.
The liver is truly a fantastic organ in that it has regenerative properties.
This means that following an injury or tissue removal surgery, the liver tissue can regenerate (grow back) to a certain extent.
The existing cells in the liver start enlarging. Then the new cells start to multiply.
Within a week after removing a partial part of the liver, it can return to the original weight.
Many different diseases can affect the functioning of the liver, including:
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis A is most common in developing countries that lack clean drinking water and have inadequate sanitation systems; it refers to a viral infection that causes inflammation in the liver.
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis can be the cause of serious complexities, including liver failure and even cancer. The disease most commonly spreads through sexual contact. There’s a vaccination available to prevent this disease.
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C can be a chronic infection. It most commonly spreads by sharing unclean needles to inject drugs or apply tattoos.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease :
In this condition, excess fat builds in the liver, damaging the liver, causing swelling.
There are several liver diseases. Many conditions initially show flu-like symptoms and progressive get severe.
These symptoms of liver problems include:
More severe symptoms are:
If you’re undergoing any of these symptoms, visit your doctor promptly.
These lifestyle adjustments can help you keep a healthy liver:
Say NO to Alcohol:
Alcohol, smoking, or drugs can damage the liver severely. Even avoid passive smoking.
Only take prescribed medicine: When medicines are taken incorrectly or in the wrong combination, the liver can be damaged easily.
Avoid toxic chemicals: Chemicals in cleaning products, air fresheners, and insecticides are toxic and can injure liver cells.