The liver is a patient hard worker. It protects the body from poisoning and keeps the metabolism going. She may need a little care and support so that she can also process the sumptuous Christmas food or the New Year’s Eve meal without grumbling.
Alcohol, fatty food, medication – all of this puts a strain on our body’s detoxification organs. Christmas with the traditionally sumptuous menu and New Year’s Eve with the frequent bubbly escapades go one step further. No wonder the liver groans.
However, she does it so quietly that we only notice her overload when she is already ill. If deposits clog the bile ducts, these often painful gallstones can still be easily removed. Medicine can also get an acute inflammation under control again. However, chronic inflammation of the liver is difficult to treat. Those affected not only have to take medication. You should also never get carried away – Christmas and New Year’s Eve or not.
Only those who go for regular health checks will find out whether the liver is under too much strain or whether the liver values are in the green range. However, this laboratory evaluation is not part of the standard program that the statutory health insurance companies pay their members over 35 every two years.
If the liver values are increased, the doctor must get to the bottom of the change and check the condition of the liver: above all, whether there is liver inflammation. Experts are registering an increase in the disease, and the sometimes highly dangerous viruses that can trigger hepatitis are not to blame.
In an interview with “Welt”, Christian Trautwein, Director of the Clinic for Gastroenterology, Metabolic Diseases and Internal Intensive Care Medicine at the University Hospital in Aachen, raises the alarm shortly before Christmas. He fears significantly more cases of liver inflammation in the future due to lifestyle. The keyword is: overweight.
While the organ is designed to store fat for lean times, it isn’t designed to take on endless supplies. Then the liver threatens to become fatty. And this problem worries the specialist:
He names the number of ten million Germans who have fatty liver. In 20 to 30 percent of them, the liver is also inflamed. Then there is a threat of increasing scarring, which ends with incurable cirrhosis of the liver. In the future, the most common reason for this most serious liver disease will no longer be alcohol abuse, but fatty liver.
Our PDF guide explains the most important functions of the liver and how to combat symptoms such as feelings of fullness.
The good news: A liver that does not show any other disorders apart from obesity does not initially require any medical therapy. A healthier lifestyle with better nutrition, less alcohol and regular exercise will soon bring the detoxification organ back into balance.
This is important. Because what many do not know: If the liver is only working to a limited extent, it is not just the detoxification of the body that suffers. The entire sugar, fat and protein metabolism depends on the organ – and thus also the entire organism.
You can help a stressed liver to get well again quickly: with herbal substances. There is no clear scientific evidence for the effect of artichoke extract or milk thistle capsules. But naturopaths swear by liver herbs and spices, whose bitter substances stimulate fat digestion and relieve the liver:
Apparently, coffee must also have a positive effect on the liver: A long-term study by the National Cancer Research Institute in the USA has shown that coffee drinkers have better liver values - the infusion can also be decaffeinated.
