The liver does not come as a pair; you only have one, one massive liver! The liver alone occupies almost half of your belly’s surface area.

It is located in the right upper side of your belly and it’s primary work is to detoxify everything you consume, be it food, alcohol, medications –prescriptions, over the counter medications, nutritional or herbal supplements.

May I let you in on a little secret? All those “detox” programs being marketed to you online have nothing on the liver!

The liver also moonlights in other roles like;

Helping with the digestion of food by producing bile. Yes, that greenish-yellow nasty tasting juice that comes up after throwing up has it’s uses.  Bile helps us  digest fat. The gall bladder  serves as a storage pouch for the bile made by the liver.

Your liver also lends a helping hand to the production of some blood components like vitamin K and platelets. Both help us to form clots over wounds so we don’t bleed to death.

How Can You Help Your Liver?

1. By being mindful of the medications you use and how they affect the liver particularly if you are using herbal supplements in addition to prescribed medications.

2. Drink alcohol in moderation.

3. keep a healthy weight as the liver is apt to store the extra fat leading to a fatty liver.

4. By golly, stay away from contaminated needles and don’t get infected with hepatitis B or C!

About the author

Avatar photo

Dr. Bola

Family physician. Works for the "man" by day, wife & mom 24/7.
Loves the work of translating "medicalese" to plain english.

17 Comments

Leave a Comment