Last week we took a closer look at the human brain, so we decided to check out the most interesting facts about the liver next!
- Your liver is your largest internal organ, weighing in at nearly 3.5 pounds.
- The liver is responsible for hundreds of essential functions, such as creating hormones, fighting infection, processing blood sugar and helping filter toxins from the body.
- Detoxing your body is one of the liver’s primary functions. Your liver helps filter blood through your digestive tract. It processes and pumps over a litre ever minute.
- If the fat content of your liver creeps above 10%, you are a more likely candidate for type 2 diabetes.
- Unlike the appendix or gall bladder, the liver is an essential (or vital) organ, meaning it must function well to sustain life.
- The liver is a very complex organ, it is also responsible for metabolizing medications. The liver converts medications into easily usable forms for the body. Certain medications such as NSAIDs can be hard on the liver.
- The liver can actually regenerate itself. This makes living organ donations a viable option when liver transplants are necessary. A living donation is when a family member donates part of their liver to a sick member. Their partial liver can actually then grow back into a fully functioning organ.
- Bile in the liver gives excrement its signature coloring. If your stool is not brown, it may indicate a problem with your liver.
- The liver is the warehouse for many essential substances the body will eventually go on to use, such as sugar, iron and many vitamins and minerals.
- Alcohol is hepatotoxic to the liver and alcohol abuse is a common cause of gradual liver failure.
- Symptoms of liver disease include: bleeding, fatigue, weight loss, jaundice and abdominal pain.
That concludes our look at the liver! Thanks for visiting DocChat! We hope to see you again soon.
