18th August 2010
Your liver is located just under your rib cage on the right side of your abdomen, it’s about the size of a football, weighs 3 to 4 pounds and performs hundreds of vital functions. Without it, you couldn’t digest food and absorb nutrients, get rid of toxic substances from your body or stay alive.
Serious complications can arise if you develop liver problems. Some liver problems can’t be prevented, such as those that are inherited, but you can take an active role in preventing other liver problems. Learn to identify symptoms of liver problems and how to avoid them.
Our liver is very resilient in the face of liver problems. It can remain functional after losing most of its cell to disease. It can regenerate in a few weeks – even after much of it has been removed during surgery.
But our liver isn’t indestructible. Liver problems are possible. 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 into 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
How To Protect The Liver
Here are the most important things you can do to protect your liver:
Drink alcohol in moderation, if at all.
Over many years, more than one drink a day for women and more than two drinks a day for men may be enough to lead to cirrhosis. Use of certain drugs, including some illegal drugs, also can cause liver disease.
Don’t mix other drugs with alcohol.
Acetaminophen (Tylenol, others) can be toxic to the liver even if you drink in moderation.
Get vaccinated.
If you’re at increased risk of contracting hepatitis or if you’ve already been infected with any form of the hepatitis virus, talk to your doctor about getting the hepatitis B vaccine. A vaccine is also available for hepatitis A.
Use medications wisely.
Only use prescription and nonprescription drugs when you needed them and take only the recommended doses. Talk to your doctor before mixing herbal supplements or prescription or nonprescription drugs.
Beware of certain supplements.
Herbal supplements that can be toxic to the liver include kave, comfrey, chaparral, kombucha tea, pennyroyal and skullcap. Excellent herbal supplements include milk thistle, which has been used since ancient times for treating a wide variety of ailments but particularly liver problems, and also the main ingredients for Liver Dr, a safe natural remedy to improve liver health and functioning.
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.
Be careful with aerosol sprays.
When you use an aerosol cleaner, make sure the room is ventilated, or wear a mask. Take similar protective measures when spraying insecticides, fungicides, paint and other toxic chemicals
Watch what gets on your skin.
When using insecticides and other toxic chemicals, cover your skin with gloves, long sleeves, a hat and a mask.
Don’t eat too many fatty foods.
Your liver makes all the cholesterol your body needs. Eating a well-balanced, nourishing diet will help your liver do its job properly. If you can’t resist the fatty foods, take Proactol after your meal. A regular exercise program will help keep your liver healthy too.
Watch your weight.
Even if you don’t drink alcohol, obesity can cause a condition called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, which may include fatty liver, hepatitis and cirrhosis.
What is milk thistle?
Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) has been used for 2,000 years as an herbal remedy for a variety of ailments, particularly liver and gall bladder problems. Several scientific studies suggest that substances in milk thistle (especially a flavonoid called silymarin) protect the liver from toxins, including certain drugs such as acetaminophen (Tylenol), which can cause liver damage in high doses. Silymarin has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and it may help the liver repair itself by growing new cells.
The active ingredient -- the one that protects the liver -- in milk thistle is known as silymarin. Silymarin is actually a group of flavonoids (silibinin, silidianin, and silicristin), which are thought to help repair liver cells damaged by alcohol and other toxic substances. Silymarin also keeps new liver cells from being destroyed by these same toxins. It reduces inflammation (which is why it is often suggested for people with liver inflammation or hepatitis), and is a strong antioxidant.
Most milk thistle products are standardized preparations made from the seeds of the plant. Most preparations are standardized to contain 70 - 80% of silymarin.
Milk thistle may interfere with the following medications, because both milk thistle and these medications are broken down by the same liver enzymes:
- Allergy drugs -- such as fexofenadine (Allegra)
- Drugs for high cholesterol -- including statins such as lovastatin (Mevacor, Altocor)
- Anti-anxiety drugs -- including alprazolam (Xanax), diazepam (Valium), and lorazepam (Ativan)
- Antiplatelet and anticoagulant drugs (blood thinners) -- including clopidogrel (Plavix) and warfarin (Coumadin)
- Some cancer drugs
What about dandelion?
Dandelion could be an effective herb in case of a fatty liver. Studies have shown that the nutrients that the dandelion is made of, can increase the production and flow of bile, from the gallbladder and the liver.
The main part of this herbal plant, is the effect its leaves and the root have on the liver. These compounds help the liver to stimulate digestion, and can increase the bile production and flow to the liver.
This would result an increase to the fat metabolism in our body. And it is this fact that could improve the liver function, and eventually help curing a fatty liver.
With combination with additional liver strengthening nutrients, dandelion could definitely aid in the case of fatty liver.
With these combination of herbs above, there is a product which might be suitable for you but then, it's in tablet form for which it acts as a supplement to your diet intake. You can't possibly take these herbs raw as it would be awful and that is why, you would need a processed supplement to do so. Do email me at michaelfg81@gmail.com to know more about the product and I can assure you, it's from a world renowned company.
Source: University of Maryland Medical Center and Fatty Liver web sites
The main part of this herbal plant, is the effect its leaves and the root have on the liver. These compounds help the liver to stimulate digestion, and can increase the bile production and flow to the liver.
This would result an increase to the fat metabolism in our body. And it is this fact that could improve the liver function, and eventually help curing a fatty liver.
With combination with additional liver strengthening nutrients, dandelion could definitely aid in the case of fatty liver.
With these combination of herbs above, there is a product which might be suitable for you but then, it's in tablet form for which it acts as a supplement to your diet intake. You can't possibly take these herbs raw as it would be awful and that is why, you would need a processed supplement to do so. Do email me at michaelfg81@gmail.com to know more about the product and I can assure you, it's from a world renowned company.
Source: University of Maryland Medical Center and Fatty Liver web sites
