Sunday, November 1, 2009

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT YOUR LIVER?

How Important Your Liver?
Skin is the largest organ in our body and liver is the second largest. This topic we will discuss about how well do you know your liver. It is located in the upper right region of the abdominal cavity, below the diaphragm. Liver is one of the extremely important organ, being responsible for sizeable number of vital functions in addition to its role in digestion.

Everything that enters the blood from the digestive tract passes through the liver before being transported to other area in our body. It holds about 13% of the body's blood supply at any given time.

The liver functions as a dumping site for toxic waste. Insecticides, preservatives & other toxins might build up & impair the liver. Eventhough particular toxin may not accumulate in the liver, liver function may suffer if these toxins adversely affect the functioning of other organs especially the pancreas or kidneys.

Therefore, the liver is one of the important protective organ, containing active phagocytes that remove bacteria & other foreign materials from the blood as it passes through the liver. For your information, liver produces several important blood proteins & other molecules, stores iron & certain vitamins, eliminates old hemoglobin, detoxifies many drugs & toxins, & is the major site for the metabolism of the products produced by the digestion of carbohydrates, proteins & fats.

Fats cannot be digested without bile, which is made in the liver, stored in the gall bladder & released as needed into the small intestine. Bile is also essential for the absorption of vitamins A, D, E & K, the fat soluble vitamins. After digestion, bile acids are reabsorbed by the intestine, returned to the liver & recycled as bile once again.

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