LIVER HEALTH

Your liver is a key player in your body's digestive system. Everything you eat or drink, including medicine, passes through it. You need to treat it right so it can stay healthy and do its job. It's an organ you could easily damage if you don't take good care of it. Your liver has several important things to do. It helps clean your blood by getting rid of harmful chemicals that your body makes. It makes a liquid called bile, which helps you break down fat from food. And it also stores sugar called glucose, which gives you a quick energy boost when you need it.

HERE ARE SOME WAYS TO KEEP YOUR LIVER HEALTHY:

• Alcohol can damage liver cells and lead to the swelling or scarring of liver, which over time, can become cirrhosis- a long-term disease of the liver marked by degeneration of cells, inflammation, and thickening of tissue which can be deadly.
• Eat a healthy diet and get regular exercise. Your liver will thank you. You'll keep your weight under control, which helps prevent nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a condition that leads to cirrhosis.
• Watch out for certain medicines. Some drugs can occasionally have a side effect that causes liver problems. The painkiller acetaminophen can hurt your liver if you take too much of it.
• Don't touch or breathe in toxins. Some cleaning products, aerosol products, and insecticides have chemicals that can damage your liver. Avoid direct contact with them. Additives in cigarettes can also damage your liver, so don’t smoke.
• Drink coffee. Research shows that it can lower your risk of getting liver disease. No one knows why this is so, but it’s worth keeping an eye on as more research is done.

1. "http://www.webmd.com/hepatitis/features/healthy-liver as on 29th Sep 2016"