Some would say the hardest working internal organ of the body is the heart. Some might say the brain. A few would say the lungs. Maybe even your kidneys would come up for discussion. But how often have you ever thought about your liver! Occasionally it comes up in the news when someone famous like Walter Payton dies of liver disease. But outside of that, not much is said or done about the liver.
Respect Not Just Your Elders But Also Your Liver! In my research for this article my appreciation and respect for the liver has grown exponentially. Your liver is an amazing organ and one of the most important organs in your body. Located in the upper right quadrant of the abdomen, the liver is the largest and most complex organ of the body, and is responsible for:
• Cleansing and filtering the blood stream. • The production of bile which is stored in the gallbladder. When released, bile aids in the digestion of fats while helping to rid the body of harmful substances. • Producing other important chemical compounds such as albumin, blood clotting factors, cholesterol, and Vitamin E. • Converting amino acids and lipids into the simple sugar glucose. This requires a complex process catalyzed by a series of enzymes. • Storing glucose in the form of glycogen. This process plays a critical role in maintaining normal blood sugar levels. • Proper metabolism of protein and fats. • Metabolizing many medications, alcohol, and other ingested chemicals such as caffeine. • The storage of vitamins A, B12, D, several of the other B vitamins, and minerals like iron and copper. • Detoxifying the body from numerous substances like ammonia and metabolic wastes.
All in all over 500 chemical and metabolic functions take place in the liver. It filters about 2 quarts of blood per minute making it the “garbage disposal” of the body. And, if you review these bullet points closely, you can see how the liver is involved in diet, metabolism, blood sugar control, digestion, detoxification and elimination. It is critically important to understand both how the liver works and what you can do to support the liver properly. Your overall health and wellness, as well as how you age and fight disease, will be impacted by the health of your liver.
In Our Overly Medicated and Chemical World! We live in an environment that has seen an increased use of chemicals and medication to process foods and treat symptoms. It is estimated that 80 percent of U.S. livestock and poultry receive some animal drugs/hormones/antibiotics during their lifetime. Pesticides, herbicides, and other chemical storage methods are commonly used in food production. Add environmental toxins, chemical additives, genetic engineering, processing and refining practices, coupled with substance abuse and you can see why today’s liver has been stressed like never before. Add to this the fact that the majority of the American diet, in both food and drink, creates an acidic environment that also stresses the liver, as well as other bodily systems, and you will begin to understand why we are seeing so many people living lives compromised by degenerative diseases.
Detoxification and Cancer! I’ve written a series of articles about the Acid – Alkaline Debate as it regards cancer and degenerative diseases. The same can also apply to the liver. There are many in the scientific community who believe that up to 90% of all cancers are related to the effects of environmental carcinogens, such are found in cigarette smoke, food, water, and air. Combine this with deficiencies of the nutrients the body needs for proper functioning of the detoxification and immune systems and you have a recipe for increased susceptibility to cancer. Proper functioning of your liver’s detoxification system is critically important for your body’s ability to prevent cancer. The beauty of understanding what you need to do to properly support the liver will also have a positive effect on your immune system and helping your body stay slightly alkaline which is what it desires.
Your Liver is Your Detoxification Center. The rest of this article will look at the methods your liver uses to detoxify your body and what you need to do to keep it working properly. First up is:
The Liver Filter - Your blood flows through the liver in such a way that it is filtered of toxic matter such as dead cells, chemicals, drugs, and particulate debris in the blood stream. This liver filter is called the sinusoidal system. It has specialized cells known as Kupffer cells that ingest and breakdown toxic matter. Your liver filter also removes a wide range of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites that might be in your blood stream. When working properly, the liver usually clears 99% of the bacteria and other toxins during this filtering process, and like any filter, it needs to be cleansed. Unlike the oil filter in your car which you can remove and replace fairly easily, the liver is a bit different. Although it can re-grow itself and can be transplanted, you really want to take steps daily to help maintain its ability to filter, cleanse and detoxify you. We talk about this in my article “14 Steps to Cleansing and Supporting Your Liver!”
Every drug, artificial chemical, pesticide and hormone is metabolized by enzymatic pathways inside the liver cells. Now, I want you to stop and think this one through right now. It will be difficult for you to know what pesticides and hormones you might be consuming in your food supply but you can easily tell what drugs and artificial chemicals you are taking in. Any drug you take has to be dealt with by the liver. Now, that doesn’t mean going off your medication. But it does mean that for each medication you take you need to increase your support to the liver. In addition, start reading the labels on your food packaging. If you eat fast food ask for the nutritional information for the products you are consuming. When you weigh out all you consume the greatest percentage of toxins you ingest is going to come through your food in the form of artificial chemicals, additives and ingredients.
Think of Yourself as One Giant Self-Storage Facility! Many of the toxic chemicals that enter your body are fat-soluble. That presents a problem since they will only dissolve in fatty or oily solutions and not water. These fat soluble chemicals are difficult for the body to excrete and if not handled by the liver they will be stored in the fat tissues and cell membranes, which are made of fatty substances. These toxins can be stored for years in the fat tissues. It is not uncommon that when people fast, begin to exercise, or go on a diet to reduce their percentage of body fat, they experience headaches, poor memory, stomach pain, nausea, fatigue, dizziness and palpitations. Sometimes they will have vivid memories of events in the past that are tied to a medication they used for some medical reason. This is usually caused by the stored toxins being released back into your system and your liver is now forced to deal with them. Anytime you decide to reduce your percentage of body fat, you need to give extra support to your liver.
The liver has two primary mechanisms for converting fat-soluble chemicals into water soluble chemicals. This allows your body to easily excrete them through its two main pathways: bile and urine. Now, here are some really big scientific names for these two primary mechanisms the liver uses to detoxify you:
Phase One – Detoxification Pathway Phase Two – Detoxification Pathway
No joke. These are two of the easier scientific names to remember. But it is just a set-up. When you look at the mechanisms in each of these phases those scientists throw in those hundred dollar words to try and mess with our brains. My goal is to try to explain this in simpler terms. That way you can see what you will need to do nutritionally to support these two phases.
Phase One – Detoxification Pathway. There is a large group of enzymes that are collectively called Cytochrome P-450. These enzymes are located in the membrane system of the liver cells. In fact, these cells contain the genetic coding to form many variations or isoenzymes of Cytochrome P-450 so that the liver can treat specific chemicals more effectively. To help the women understand this it would be like choosing the right style shoe for the right occasion. For the men it would be like choosing the right drill bit for your high speed Black ‘n Decker.
Simply put, the phase one pathway converts a toxic chemical into a less harmful chemical through various chemical reactions. That’s the good news. The bad news is that these chemical reactions produce high levels of free radicals. I’ve written an article on free radical damage. Outside of genetics, free radical damage is considered by many to be the single greatest factor in aging and degenerative diseases because it causes cell tissue damage. To counter this damage, your body needs antioxidants to absorb their destructive energy and return the free radical molecule into a stable molecule. Antioxidants like vitamin C and E and natural carotenoids protect the liver cells from this free radical damage. But, far and away the most important antioxidant for neutralizing the free radicals produced in Phase One is glutathione. We’ll have more to say about glutathione in Phase Two.
Some of the Phase One enzymes directly neutralize some of the chemicals, but most of the chemicals are converted to intermediate forms that are much more chemically active. In addition to the potential for free radical damage you also have a more toxic environment. If your Phase Two detoxification systems are not working properly, these intermediate forms can cause liver damage as well as initiate carcinogenic processes. So, the balance between the creation of Phase One intermediate forms and the ability of the Phase Two detoxification pathways to finish the process is also a critical issue. I hope you’re beginning to see how critical your liver function is to your overall health.
I have one additional note on the P-450 enzyme system that I would like to bring to your attention. Pesticides can disrupt the P-450 enzymatic system by causing it to become over active. This might sound like a good thing, but for the liver it is not because high levels of damaging free radicals are produced. Without extra protection from high concentrations of antioxidants the liver will be damaged from this increased free radical production. This is one of the reasons why pesticide usage on our food supply has become such a health as well as an environmental issue.
Phase Two – Detoxification Pathway. This is where the scientists team up with the English teachers to make our understanding of this pathway more difficult. This pathway is commonly called the conjugation pathway. It is in this pathway that the liver cells add another substance to the chemical or drug toxin to render it less harmful and water-soluble. By making the fat-soluble toxins water-soluble your body can now eliminate it through watery fluids such as bile or urine. There are six Phase Two detoxification pathways:
• Glutathione Conjugation • Amino Acid Conjugation • Methylation • Sulfation • Acetylation • Glucuronidation
Don’t you just love when scientists and English teachers get together to make our lives easier to understand. Well, hang with me and I will try to speak in terms that make sense.
For the enzyme systems in Phase Two to work properly, certain nutrients are needed to activate the enzyme systems as well as provide the small molecules added to the toxins to neutralize them. This requires metabolic energy which requires metabolic enzymes to help create this energy. I wrote an article about the importance of digestive enzymes to your overall health. I bring it up in this article because if your diet is lacking in digestive enzymes, then you force the pancreas to convert metabolic enzymes into digestive enzymes which can impact Phase Two detoxification. Also, people with chronic fatigue syndrome, a magnesium deficiency or lack of physical activity can also experience a slow down in Phase Two detoxification.
The Cliff Notes Version of Glutathione Conjugation! Glutathione is a tripeptide composed of three amino acids – cysteine, glutamic acid, and glycine. Simply stated, glutathione conjugation produces water-soluble substances that are excreted in the urine via the kidneys. The elimination of heavy metals like mercury and lead are dependent upon adequate levels of glutathione. If you remember from Phase One, glutathione is also an important antioxidant.
Since glutathione conjugation is a primary pathway in Phase Two detoxification and glutathione is the most important antioxidant in Phase One detoxification, your body needs adequate supplies of glutathione. If depleted in Phase One, then Phase Two detoxification will be compromised. This combination of free radical protection and detoxification makes glutathione one of the most important anti-carcinogens and antioxidants known. Thankfully, glutathione is available through diet and synthesis. However, our glutathione levels decrease with age so supplementation in our diet with fresh fruits and vegetables, cooked fish and meats is important.
Warning to Smokers! Smoking increases the rate of utilization of glutathione because the chemical nicotine must be neutralized in the liver. Additionally, the other chemical toxins in the cigarette create high levels of free radicals to use up glutathione. Smokers not only do damage to their lungs and heart but also create the potential for liver dysfunction.
The Cliff Notes Version of the Rest of the Conjugation Pathways! There is more that could be said about each of the following five conjugation pathways but I’m going to be brief about each one of them.
• Amino Acids. Glycine, taurine, glutamine, arginine, and ornithine are amino acids used to combine with and neutralize toxins. • Methylation. This involves attaching methyl groups to toxins. S-adenosylmethionine or SAM is the most common methyl group and is synthesized from the amino acid methionine as well as the nutrients choline, vitamin B12 and folic acid. • Sulfation. This involves attaching sulfur-containing compounds to toxins. The process is important for detoxifying several drugs, food additives, and toxins from the intestinal bacteria. It is the main pathway that the body uses to eliminate steroid and thyroid hormones. • Acetylation. This is the primary pathway that the body uses to eliminate sulfa drugs. This pathway is especially sensitive to genetic variation which may factor into why many people are allergic to sulfa drugs. • Glucuronidation. This pathway combines glucuronic acid with toxins. Many of the commonly prescribed drugs including aspirin, menthol, food additives such as benzoates, and some hormones, are eliminated thru this pathway.
To summarize the detoxification process into a simple flow sheet would look something like this:
Toxins enter your system > Liver filters out toxins > Step One Detoxification Pathways > Step Two Detoxification Pathways > Toxins converted to water soluble waste products > Waste products eliminated from your body via > Gall Bladder as Bile released into your intestines to be eliminated through bowel movements or > Kidneys eliminated through your urine.
Not only is it important that your liver work properly but the health of your gall bladder, intestines, and kidneys are also extremely important in this detoxification process.
This is a lot of information and it is given to you to help you understand the process of detoxification so that you have a greater respect for your liver. Hidden within this information are keys to helping you improve the health of your liver. Some are quite obvious and some need additional exposure to see the relationship. The companion article “14 Steps to Cleansing and Supporting Your Liver!” will put this information into a working plan that you can use to help improve your liver’s function and health.
