LIVER HEALTH
Situated just behind the lower ribs to the right abdomen about the size of a football weighing 3 to 4 pounds. The liver is a major and arguably the most essential organ in our body. It performs hundreds of essential functions like food digestion, nutrient absorption, and detoxification just to name a few.
In other words, the liver is a powerful chemical factory that stores, transports, converts, disposes, metabolize, and produces chemicals. It converts chemicals into forms that are easier for the body to use. The liver makes it possible to perform critical functions like filter blood, reduce toxins and aid blood clots. It serves as a storage depot for sugar (glucose), and releases them where energy is needed. Many vital task in the body require chemicals only the liver can produce such bile, a fluid that transports waste away and digests fat in the small intestines. Without the liver, the body will not survive due to build up of toxins and toxic substances. This enormous task the liver must work to keep up makes it a tough organ. However, given this central role makes the liver susceptible to the toxicity from these agents and will inevitably damage and poison the liver, resulting in a range of disorders and diseases.
What can be improper with your liver?
As with all organs in the body, the liver is subject to a range of disorders and diseases. Severe complications may happen if you develop any liver problem. Some liver problems can not be prevented, such as those that are hereditary, but action can still be taken as an active part in preventing further development of other liver related problems. The level of liver function is not based on age. Liver function does not decrease with increasing age. A healthy liver absent of diseases should work optimally even at a very old age.
Below are common extensive diseases of the liver are Viral Hepatitis and Alcoholic Liver Disease.
Viral Hepatitis - Viral hepatitis is the most common type of liver disease and can lead to serious liver problems. Hepatitis causes inflammation to the liver. Hepatitis A, B, & C are the most common sources of viral hepatitis. While Hepatitis A is customarily a transient infection, both Hepatitis B and C can be serious and may progress to chronic liver disease, even causing liver cirrhosis or liver cancer.
Liver Cirrhosis can be due to any long-term, continuous cause of liver damage. These causes include Hepatitis B and C as well as inherited liver disease. When the liver is wounded, some of the living cells die and are replaced by scar tissues. Once cirrhosis has developed, the process cannot be reversed even if the original wound recovers.
Alcoholic Liver Disease - Alcoholic liver ailment does not affect every person who drinks alcohol. Though, it is dependent on the amount of alcohol consumed over time, some people are more susceptible to the adverse effects of alcoholic beverages than others. Too much alcohol can cause a normal liver swell with fat, leading to 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 is irreversible liver damage. Because of extensive scarring, a cirrhotic liver shrinks to a fraction of its normal size.