Your liver deserves more love than you might realize. This hard-working organ performs more than 500 vital functions, from aiding in digestion and storing important vitamins (including A, D, E, K and B12) to cleansing your bloodstream of toxins and illness-causing bacteria.
“Our liver is such an amazing organ. … [It] can also regenerate itself, which means it can repair and replace damaged liver cells, as long as the damage is not too advanced,” says Mahsa Mansouri, M.D., assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas at Austin’s Dell Medical School.
Unfortunately, more than 100 million Americans have some type of liver disease, and the overwhelming majority don’t know it, according to the American Liver Foundation. That’s because liver disease doesn’t typically cause any symptoms until it has advanced significantly.
In the past, viral hepatitis was the leading cause of liver disease, but rates are declining. On the flip side, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and alcohol-related liver damage are on the rise.
To learn about steps you can take to avoid liver damage or help your liver heal, from AARP, CLICK HERE.
