The liver the largest of our internal organs, is also the most multi-functional. It performs so many different roles in the body that medical school students often joke that, if you’re not sure of an answer on a physiology exam, just write down the word liver and more often than not you’re going to be correct. In addition to detoxifying the blood of old hormones, drugs and other chemical poisons, the liver produces cholesterol and turns it into bile, controls blood sugar, produces enzymes and various steroid hormones, helps regulate the immune system and acts as a clearinghouse of fast amino acids and vitamins.
For all of these reasons, making sure the liver is well functioning is job number one for keeping the body healthy, especially as we age. According to the American liver foundation, one out of three older Americans suffers from some form of liver disease, which progresses in stages from mild inflammation to full-blown liver failure. The best way to protect the liver is to avoid or at least minimize exposure to toxins including drugs, alcohol and tobacco.
Because of the important part the liver plays in helping process the constituents of foods, calorie restriction and intermittent fasting can help. Nutritional supplements like vitamin C, NAC and alpha lipoic acid support a healthy liver. Recently, investigators from Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles have discovered that the herb Stevia, a non-caloric diabetic friendly sweetener can help reduce many of the signs of liver disease.
