MediPharm: Conditions: Liver & Digestive Health

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Your Liver. Your Life.

Without your liver, you couldn't digest food and absorb nutrients, get rid of toxic substances from your body or stay alive. Everything you eat, drink, breathe and absorb through your skin eventually reaches your liver.

What Do Your Liver Do?

Acts as a filter
Converts foods into nutrients
Detoxifies substances that are harmful to your body
Processes the medications you take
Serves as a storage depot for sugar (glucose), which it releases when you need energy
Works as a chemical factory, producing many substances that perform vital tasks in your body

Liver Problems

Excessive alcohol consumption over many years is a leading cause of liver disease. Too much alcohol can make a normal liver swell with fat, causing a condition called fatty liver. If the fat becomes inflamed, it can lead to either alcoholic hepatitis, a liver problem that causes serious but often reversible liver damage, or cirrhosis, which causes irreversible liver damage. Because of extensive scarring, a cirrhotic liver shrinks to a fraction of its normal size.

Viral hepatitis can lead to serious liver problems and is the most common type of liver disease. Hepatitis causes inflammation of the liver. The three types of hepatitis viruses - hepatitis A, hepatitis B and hepatitis C - can all be prevented.

Signs and Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of liver problems include:

Discolored skin and eyes that appear yellowish
Abdominal pain and swelling
Itchy skin that doesn't seem to go away
Dark urine color
Pale stool color
Bloody or tar-colored stool
Chronic fatigue
Nausea
Loss of appetite

To keep your liver healthy and avoid any potential liver problems, see your doctor if you have any signs or symptoms that concern you.

Protect Your Liver

Here are the most important things you can do to protect your liver:

Be careful what gets into your body. This includes what you breathe, eat, drink or take. Limit intake of fatty foods and drink alcohol in moderation. Ventilate the room, wear a mask, cover skin with clothing, and wash well after using aerosol sprays, insecticides, paint sprays and other toxic chemicals.
Get vaccinated. If you're at increased risk of contracting hepatitis, talk to your doctor about getting the hepatitis A and B vaccines.
Avoid contact with other people's blood and body fluids. Hepatitis viruses can be spread by accidental needle sticks, improper cleanup of blood or body fluids, and sharing intravenous needles. It's also possible to become infected by sharing razor blades or toothbrushes or by having unsafe sex.
Exercise regularly. Regular exercise helps keep your liver healthy.
Maintain a healthy weight. Obesity can cause a condition called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, which may include fatty liver, hepatitis and cirrhosis.
Nutrients. Lecithin is a key building block of cell membranes, without it the cell membrane would harden and lose its integrity. Lecithin, a natural source of choline, helps to overcome fatty liver syndrome. Fatty liver syndrome is a disorder whereby healthy liver tissue is replaced with unhealthy fats. Scientists have found that lecithin supplementation helps reverse the damage caused by fatty liver syndrome.

Milk Thistle

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) has been used since Greco-Roman times as a herbal remedy for a variety of ailments, particularly liver problems.

Milk thistle is believed to have protective effects on the liver and improve its function. It is typically used to treat liver cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis (liver inflammation), and gallbladder disorders. Silymarin, which can be extracted from the seeds (fruit) of the milk thistle plant, is believed to be the biologically active part of the herb.

Silymarin, which actually consists of a group of compounds called flavonolignands, helps repair liver cells damaged by alcohol and other toxic substances. Silymarin also keeps new liver cells from being destroyed by these same substances, reduces inflammation (important for people with liver inflammation or hepatitis), and has potent antioxidant effects.

Source: National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, U.S. National Institutes of Health; University of Maryland Medical Center.

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