Liver Health 101

The liver is one of the largest and most important organs in the human body. It serves hundreds of essential functions, including:

• Digestion: The liver produces bile, a substance necessary for absorbing fat and removing waste from the body.
• Detoxification: The liver removes and breaks down toxins and harmful substances from the blood.
• Metabolism: The liver governs body energy metabolism – the breakdown of carbohydrates, fat, and protein all take place in the liver, and the products of this metabolism are stored in the liver and can be used when your body needs it.
• Production of important proteins: The liver produces a wide range of proteins that serve a wide range of functions, including maintaining your immune system, preventing excessive bleeding or blood clotting, and maintaining a health cholesterol level. 
• Maintenance of important vitamins and minerals: The liver plays a key role in the activation and storage of a wide range of vitamins and minerals that are essential to overall health.

Liver disease is incredibly common in the United States.  

Roughly one-third of U.S. adults have liver disease – and don’t know they have it.  According to the American Liver Foundation, more than 100 million people in the United States have some form of liver disease, although only 4.5 million U.S. adults have actually been diagnosed [1]. 

Left untreated, liver disease can have significant health consequences and has become one of the leading causes of death in the United States and worldwide. The causes of the underlying liver disease are wide-ranging – causes of liver injury include too much alcohol, weight gain, poor diet, undiagnosed viral infections or inherited causes of liver disease.  

Chronic liver disease often is not apparent to people until their liver disease is very advanced or they undergo routine testing from their healthcare providers that find abnormal blood tests or imaging of the liver.