If you think that avoiding fatty foods and alcohol is enough to keep your liver working for many years, you are sadly mistaken. There are other things that can silently destroy it. It is worth knowing which, because our liver has a lot of responsibility – it is the largest and overworked organ that cleanses the blood of toxins and bacteria. How to take care of it?
Although the liver does not give clear signals that something is wrong with it, we will recognize its worsening by weakness and headaches. Unfortunately, the fact that it is very bad, we will only find out through research. That’s why it’s worth taking care of it every day!
Weight problems. Too much and too little
There are two things that damage the liver: being overweight and losing weight too quickly. Abdominal obesity and being overweight can lead to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, which increases the risk of developing cirrhosis and liver cancer. Adipose tissue affects the development of insulin resistance, because the cells of the pancreas surrounded by fat prevent the penetration of insulin into them. Unfortunately, insulin remaining outside the cell may be responsible for fatty liver.
Losing weight while overweight will have a salutary effect on the liverHowever, the other side of the coin should be kept in mind. It has a bad effect on fast weight loss, i.e. reducing the amount of body fat in too short a time. It is taxing on the liver, because it has to process the reserves released during weight loss – that’s why specialists recommend losing a maximum of 3-4 kg per month, as well as avoiding the yo-yo effect and frequent weight changes.
Sugar, vitamins and medicines
In addition to weight problems, too much sugar affects the liver negatively. It can work even worse than alcohol (!). This, of course, is about sugar industrially added to drinks and sweets and drinks. The second enemy is also trans fats, present in chips, cookies, fast food. They cause fatty liver, stroke, atherosclerosis and cancer. Next on the list of risks is monosodium glutamate, which is found in beverages, prepared foods and some condiments.
Liver functions also impair antidepressants and too much vitamin A taken in the form of supplements. If we take it in a natural way – in food, and at the same time use supplements for hair, nails, etc., which also contain it, we do harm to the body. High doses of this vitamin accumulate in liver and are toxic to him, so it is better to be careful with this type of preparations.