“Liver support” has become a common phrase in the natural health community, connected to supplements and detox strategies that aim to improve the health and function of this vital organ.
You might be wondering, why does my liver need support and how do you support it?
To answer this question, it’s important to understand what the liver does and whether your lifestyle is impacting the health of your liver.
Nutrients
The liver has a host of functions in the body. Chiefly, it receives the blood flow from the digestive tract, acting as a filtration system for all of the nutrients absorbed from the food you eat. This means that whatever is absorbed into the blood from what you eat, ends up in the liver. The liver then metabolizes and stores these nutrients, vitamins, and minerals from the diet. If your diet is not what you hope it could be, then you may benefit from liver supportive strategies.
Digestion
Bile production also occurs in the liver, enabling the digestion of fats. Bile emulsifies fat, packaging it in a form that can be used by the body. Fats, or lipids, are essential for the structure and function of each and every cell membrane in the body. Ensuring that the liver is producing adequate bile is crucial for fat metabolism. If you have a history of poor liver function or liver disease, issues with your gallbladder or have had it removed, sluggish or poor digestion, you may benefit by liver support focusing on bile production.
Detoxification and Metabolism
Defending the body by inactivating toxins and hormones, the liver allows for proper elimination of what needs to be cleared out. This function along with filtration of nutrients from the gut, gives the liver its reputation as a detox machine. A healthy liver is a liver that can absorb what strengthens and nourishes us, and reject what would harm us or throw off our hormonal balance. If you struggle with hormonal imbalances, stress, difficulty sleeping or excess tiredness, you may benefit from certain liver supportive strategies.
Immunity
Importantly, the liver creates and hosts immune cells that defend the body against possible infection. If you find yourself struggling with frequent infections, or infections that linger on, your body may need support to stimulate proper immunity and considering liver function may be part of that approach.
Blood
Crucially, the liver regulates blood glucose levels. It makes glucose when we need it, breaks it down when we don't, and produces a storage form of glucose, glycogen, to have on hand for later. The liver also makes blood proteins and clotting factors, without which we would have improper fluid balance in the body and problems with bleeding and clotting. If you have abnormalities in blood glucose control, blood chemistry, fluid balance in the body, or anemia, considering liver function is part of the holistic approach to healing.
With this framework for understanding liver function, we can begin to unpack how the liver is affected by our health and lifestyle choices, and how we can best support it.
How to reduce liver burden:
Here are some strategies that you can use to decrease the demand on your liver, giving it time to rest and repair.
1. Nutrients: Eating well – reducing processed foods, fried foods, refined sugars, white grains, GMOs, and conventionally farmed meats. Nourishing your body with balanced meals consisting of organic fruits and vegetables, good quality proteins, whole grains, and healthy fats.
2. Digestion: Digestive rest – focusing on three healthy meals per day, refraining from eating late at night, and allowing space for the liver to focus on other processes beyond digestion from dinnertime to breakfast the next morning. Ideally, this would be 12-14 hours of digestive rest.
3. Detox: Reducing toxin exposure – eliminate sources of toxins in your environment by choosing health and home products that are free from harsh chemicals that pollute and build up in our bodies over time. Click here to learn about water filters, the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen, and how to avoid chemicals that can be found in certain clothing, cookware, furniture, carpets, food wrappers, and cosmetics.
4. Immunity: Managing stress – Due to its role in hormone and neurotransmitter metabolism, your liver knows when you are stressed and is overburdened by effects of stress breakdown products. Love your liver by finding ways to expel stress and invite gratitude, joy, and purpose into your life.
5. Blood: Changing habits – gather support for ridding your life of toxic habits that burden the liver, this includes excess alcohol consumption, substance abuse, smoking, and diets too high in sugar. A healthy liver provides the components for balanced blood chemistry.
What can I do with diet and nutrient therapy for my liver?
In general, there are ways to protect the liver and restore its health and function after lifestyle alterations have been made.
Dietary liver support
The liver loves cruciferous vegetables including broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, brussel sprouts, bok choi, as well as beets, artichoke, carrots, grapefruit, garlic, nuts, fatty fish, and avocados.
Supplemental support
There are several key herbs and supplements that come to mind when considering liver support. Milk thistle, dandelion, artichoke, burdock, turmeric, schisandra, celandine, turmeric, and licorice are widely used. Antioxidants like N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) and amino acid derivatives like L-carnitine are also crucial for adequate liver function. When it comes to botanicals and nutritional supplements, quality, preparation, and dosage MATTER. A trained herbalist or naturopath can help you with a formula that is right for you.
Specific detoxification support
Contaminants, pollutants, chemicals, pesticides, micro-organisms, metabolic waste (breakdown products from hormones, neurotransmitters), food additives, alcohol, drugs… our livers are processing and eliminating these from the body on a daily basis.
When toxin exposure occurs, your liver detoxifies in two phases. Phase one is about breaking things down and phase two is about packaging things for removal from the body. Removal occurs either through bile and into the bowel, or via the kidneys.
It is possible to have issues with one or both phases of liver detoxification, which is why it is important to understand that each phase requires some different nutrients for proper function.
Phase one requires:
B vitamins
Folic acid
Vitamin C
Vitamin D
Vitamin E
Glutathione
Support from herbs like milk thistle, dandelion, turmeric, ginger
Carotenoids
Phase two requires:
Amino acids
Glutamine
Glycine
Taurine
N-Acetyl-Cysteine
Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM)
Glutathione
Calcium-D-Glucarate
Sulphurated phytochemicals (such as cruciferous vegetables)
If you are taking a B vitamin loaded liver support supplement and feeling awful, it may mean that phase two liver detox is backed up. As phase one begins to function better with nutrient support, the back up in phase two may be getting worse. This means that those breakdown products from phase one (which can be more toxic than the initial exposure!) are not being eliminated and are lingering around making you feel unwell.
When supporting liver detoxification, consider which phase you are stimulating. It is sometimes necessary to begin with phase two detoxification support, and then move to phase one support once optimal function is restored.
Get the most out of your detoxification plan or find liver supportive strategies that work for you by considering the all aspects of this important organ!
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