MAIN Health The Human Body Liver

The liver - the body's largest organ after the skin - is often compared to a sophisticated, hi-tech processing plant.

Without fanfare or complaint, every day the healthy liver automatically takes in compounds from what we eat, drink, and absorb through the skin, and converts them in to a variety of compounds which are essential to the digestive system and the body's proper functioning.

Among its other wonders, the liver also is the only internal human organ capable of natural regeneration of lost tissue; as little as 25% of a liver can regenerate into a whole liver.

Keeping your liver healthy

In Western culture, we pump a great deal of fat, alcohol, sugar, and chemicals in to our bodies, and the liver is one of the organs on the front line of defense. Keeping the liver healthy then, is often a matter of limiting its exposure to all the things that place excess stress on it.

Alcohol is certainly not good for the liver, particularly in high amounts, and chronic alcohol abuse can lead to cirrhosis or other serious liver diseases.

Chemicals, pesticides, and many other food additives are all stressors for the liver, as is a diet rich in fatty foods. Limiting intake of all these things makes the liver's job a lot easier, and goes a long way to help this feat of engineering successfully accomplish the various tasks it was built to do.

More about the liver around the Web:

Liver - Wikipedia - Complete overview including liver functions, related diseases, photos, diagrams, related references and resources.

The Liver - Colorado University guide with information on liver anatomy, the hepatic vascular system, bile and its role in digestion, liver regeneration, and related topics.

Liver - Information, diagrams and photos detailing human liver anatomy with more on the biliary system, related glossary of terms.

Your Liver, Your Life - Downloadable PDF brochures on liver health and liver disease risks.

also see in Health & Diseases -> Hepatitis C | Liver Cancer