What your liver does for you? And what alcohol can do to your liver? And Helpful Tips that can help you help your liver?

The liver is very robust and it is the largest internal organ of the body. It plays a key role in maintaining homeostasis (a stable environment inside the body) by carrying out many metabolic and regulatory functions that ensure the constancy of the blood’s composition. The liver processes large volumes of blood to control its chemical composition. Most of the liver’s functions, apart from the work carried out by debris removing Kupffer cells, are performed by Hepatocytes, the multitasking cells that are the workhorses of the liver. As blood flows past hepatocytes, they take up nutrients and other substances to be stored, and used in metabolic processes, or broken down, and also empty nutrients into blood. The liver’s only direct role in digestion is to manufacture bile, which is stored in the gallbladder and released into the duodenum. However, once digestion is complete, the liver intercepts nutrients arriving from the intestines and processes them.  

Note: Hepatocyte is the functioning unit of the liver, arranged into highly ordered functional units called lobules, each like the size of a sesame seed. (Within a lobule, sheets of hepatocytes radiate. Hepatocytes produce up to 2 pints (1 liter) of bile (greenish fluid) daily. Bile contains a mixture of bile salts, and wastes, such as bilirubin (from the breakdown of hemoglobin), which are excreted with the feces. Bile salts aid fat digestion in the duodenum, after which they are returned to the liver and secreted again in bile).

What does your liver do for you? ---maintain your health

• The liver stores and releases several vitamins such as vitamin B12 and the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, when needed. The liver can store up to 2years supply of vitamin A, and 4 months worth of vitamin D and B12. Since they are stored, any excess cannot be excreted, also it is important to avoid overdose on vitamin supplements because the presence of excess fat-soluble vitamins can damage the liver.
• The Liver stores iron, needed to make hemoglobin and copper, which plays a part in many metabolic reactions.
• The liver cells stores crystals of Vitamin D, essential for normal absorption of calcium ions, which is needed for bone-building and many other functions, from the small intestine.
• The liver helps in processing nutrients, when nutrients—glucose, fatty acids, amino acids flood into the bloodstream after digestion the liver processes them. You know glucose is the body’s main fuel source, and its level in the blood must be kept steady. Liver cells gather glucose; they store it as glycogen if blood glucose levels rise and release it from store if levels drop. They also convert excess glucose to fat. The liver breaks down fatty acids to release energy or fat. The liver breaks down fatty acids to release energy or stores it as fat. It also manufactures packages called lipoproteins to transport fats to and from the body cells. It breaks down excess amino acids, using them to release energy and converting their nitrogen into waste urea, which is excreted in urine.
• The liver aids metabolism, detoxification, formation of blood clotting factor; it filter the blood.
• The liver stores and regulates the blood and is responsible for nourishing every cell in our body.
• The liver regulates hormonal functions which affect emotional and mental activities.
• The liver helps remove ammonia from blood.
• The liver helps excrete heavy metals or dyes filtered from the blood.
• Liver aids in Protein synthesis and liver cells secrete most of the plasma proteins found in blood plasma, using amino acids from digested food or hepatocytes. These proteins include albumin, which helps maintain water balance in the blood; transport proteins, which carry lipids and fat-soluble vitamins; and fibrinogen, for blood-clotting.
• Hormones are the body’s chemical messengers, hormones work by changing the activities of target tissues. Once a hormone has exerted its effect it is destroyed; otherwise, it would continue to operate out of control. Many hormones are broken down and regulated by the liver cells and their breakdown products are usually excreted by the kidneys in urine.
• Liver helps keep estrogen and androgen levels under control along with other organs but when the liver is not functioning properly women’s' uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts, endometriosis, breast cysts, and breast cancer or men’s' prostate enlargement and prostate cancer may occur at the increase of these hormones.
• Liver helps the body maintain stable temperature as several number of metabolic processes occurring in hepatocytes generate, as a by-product, a considerable amount of heat; and together with the heat from your working muscles, heat is distributed around the body by the blood hence keeping the body warm.
• Liver keeps your heart well:
• The structural position of the liver as a bridge between the returning blood from the digestive system and the lower part of the body to the heart makes the liver a key organ in the health of the heart. A weakened and swollen or congested liver can obstruct the venous blood flow to the heart causing heart palpitations or even heart attacks. In essence, a healthy liver is essential for maintaining an adequate amount of blood flow to the heart and the heart can only pump the blood it receives.
• Liver detoxify toxins from your body

·         The liver plays a vital role in detoxification by breaking down drugs, bacterial toxins, man-made poisons, and pollutants. Hepatocytes detoxify these harmful substances by converting them into safer compounds that can then be easily excreted. However over time, excessive detoxification as in the case of alcohol can cause fibrous tissue to develop, which stops the liver from working properly. Drinking a little wine every once in awhile is tempting, tasty and relaxing but if you are thinking about drinking one more or too much of your favorite alcoholic beverage rremember it can be harmful to your liver. Drinking terribly too much makes you an alcoholic and Alcoholism is a chronic, progressive disease that can be fatal. Alcohol affects everyone differently, some people become in-toxicated with the first drink, and some people may be able to consume four or five drinks before showing any effects, often because they have built up a tolerance to alcohol. Also, keep in mind ingested and injected alcohol or drug may be helpful to the body in the short term, but are harmful if they remain in the blood stream. Your liver processes 95% of alcohol ingested, at a rate of about ¼ to ½ ounce per hour. Excessive alcohol affects the liver. It inhibits the liver’s production of digestive enzymes, impairs the body’s ability to absorb proteins, fats, and the fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E and K), B-complex vitamin especially vitamin B, (thiamine) and folic acid and other water soluble vitamins. Excess alcohol inhibits protein uptake to amino acid deficiencies and reduces the body’s storage of zinc. Many essential nutrients needed by the cells of the body are not retained but are rapidly eliminated through the urine. Excessive amounts of fat accumulate in the liver, as a result of alcohol’s effect on the body’s ability to digest fats properly. Excessive alcohol drinking can lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a degenerative inflammatory disease of the liver, which results in hardening and scarring of liver cells. Liver cirrhosis is the final stage of alcoholic liver damage that is usually fatal, and it affects one in five excessive alcohol drinkers. The liver becomes unable to function properly due to the scarred tissue, which prevents the normal passage of blood through the liver, inhibiting the organ’s ability to filter out toxins and foreign substances. Cirrhosis of the Liver is the fourth leading cause of death among people aged twenty-five to sixty-four in urban areas of the United States.

Alcohol is one of the toxins that the liver doesn’t handle as well as others. The liver cannot regenerate after being severely damaged by alcohol.

Another cause of liver cirrhosis is Hepatitis C virus (HCV) though this is less frequent. It is estimated that 3.2 million people in the United States have hepatitis C and about 75 to 85% will develop chronic liver disease, cirrhosis. Alcoholic hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that may occur as a result of this and its signs and symptoms includes loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and tenderness, fever, jaundice (yellow skin), and mental confusion. Hepatitis is a condition in which liver cells become inflamed and may die.

Note:-HCV could be caused by blood transfusion given before routine testing for HCV. Approximately 8,000 to 10,000 people die every year from hepatitis C-related liver disease. This disease causes the liver to start losing its ability to function.

Malnutrition and chronic inflammation can also lead to liver malfunction.

Early Symptoms of Liver Cirrhosis:

Constipation or diarrhea, Enlarged Liver, Fever, Weakness, Poor appetite, Vomiting, Upset stomach, Fatigue, Red Pabris, Weight loss, Generalized itching, Swollen abdomen and legs.

Later symptoms of Liver Cirrhosis:

Anemia, Jaundice, Edema, Bruising due to bleeding under the skin

Drinking alcohol excessively can cause liver Cirrhosis

Note: - people with alcoholic cirrhosis may not experience early symptoms, and it could become worse because it develops slowly like a slow kill poison. In a case of liver cirrhosis in an alcoholic patient you will notice white lobules (white) surrounded by fibrous scar tissue (red) caused by excessive detoxification.

The liver is one of the most robust organs of the body and it is the only organ that has the ability to regenerate itself after certain types of damage. Up to 75 percent of the liver can be removed in patients without any underlying liver disease--- in those with liver disease 60 percent can be removed. It takes four to six weeks for the liver to grow back to its original size. If cared for properly, it will function more than adequately for decades; so we have to put a few helpful tips that can help you maintain a healthy liver.