| Why Do We Care
about the Liver?
I think the top ten reasons are ...
1. The liver helps to clear the blood of drugs,
hormones and chemicals that may be harmful to the body.
2. The liver destroys and removes germs and other
foreign invaders that have managed to get through the walls of the
digestive tract and into the blood.
3. The liver acts as a filter for toxins between
the small intestine and the rest of the body.
4. It helps the body use food as nourishment.
5. It helps to keep the balance of glucose, proteins,
fats, cholesterol, hormones, and vitamins in the body.
6. The liver makes bile; a substance needed to
digest fat.
7. It makes certain amino acids, triglycerides,
cholesterol, and glucose.
8. It stores vitamins, minerals and glycogen (a
form of glucose that gives the body energy).
9. It gets iron from red blood cells.
10. The liver helps the blood to clot.
One of the interesting things about the liver is that it is the
only organ that gets blood from two sources. One supply of blood
comes from the stomach and intestines and is full of nutrients.
The other supply of blood comes from the heart and contains oxygen.
The liver acts as a filter for the blood that it gets by:
• clearing germs and foreign substances from the blood that
is received from the stomach and intestines, and
• allowing nutrients to move from the blood to the cells of
the liver (hepatocytes) and back and forth.
Once blood passes through the liver, it flows throughout the body
providing nourishment.
previous
| next
© 2003 Gay Men's Health Crisis |
home 
