Love your liver month

It's the largest organ inside the body and boasts more than 500 functions, from combating infection to turning food into energy, cleaning the blood and destroying toxins.

But how many of us really know how to look after our liver?

Contrary to popular belief, a January detox is not the way to restore the organ to peak condition after the ravages of Christmas boozing. In fact, experts brand it “pointless”, saying a short burst of abstinence will do nothing to improve liver health in the long-term.

So, to mark Love Your Liver month, we bring you some tips on how to keep yours in peak condition:
Ditch the Detox

As consultant hepatologist Dr Mark Wright puts it, “detoxing for just a month in January is medically futile”.

Instead, taking at least two alcohol-free days a week throughout the year is a much more effective way of keeping the liver healthy.

The thinking behind this is that a person’s overall alcohol intake is then kept down and the liver is given time to recover every few days. If it has no lasting damage, the liver can repair itself astonishingly quickly – taking as few as 24 hours to go back to normal.
Don’t binge drink

Even if you’re managing to steer clear of the beer a couple of times a week, don’t think you can save up those days’ allowance and drink them all at once come Friday night. It doesn’t work that way.

Heavy drinking over a long period can lead not only to liver disease but also to liver cancer, and bingeing places huge stress on the organ.

So, remember – women should stick to drinking no more than two to three units in a day while men should drink no more than three to four. And don't forget to stay off the booze for at least two days a week.
Deal with your diet

The brutal fact is that liver disease is on the increase in the UK – it’s now the fifth largest cause of death. It can also be a silent killer, with no symptoms until it’s too late.

If you are overweight and drink alcohol you are three times more likely to contract liver disease, with fatty deposits causing inflammation and scarring.

Crash diets aren’t the solution – slow and steady healthy eating is. It’s the usual advice: five portions of fruit and veg a day, plenty of water, and try eating from a smaller plate and cutting down on fatty or sugary foods.
Get active

Each day take at least half an hour’s exercise, which leaves you “warm and slightly out of breath”. It will regulate your body weight, and some studies suggest at least 150 minutes a week of appropriate activity improves liver enzymes.
Feeling tired all the time?

Ask your GP for a liver function test. Your liver has no nerve endings to transmit pain so it’s not immediately obvious when something is wrong. If you feel you’ve regularly overdone the alcohol and fatty foods and are feeling persistently weary now, get it checked out.
Remember your ABC

Viral illnesses hepatitis A, B and C now affect more than 700,000 people in the UK. While most recover from hepatitis A with no lasting damage, hepatitis B and C can cause long term problems and even liver cancer. And an estimated five out of six people with chronic Hepatitis C are unaware of their infection.

So take steps to ensure you don’t catch these viruses. Hepatitis A is easily picked up by eating food or drinking water contaminated with the virus through poor hygiene, particularly when abroad. Hepatitis B and C are blood-borne viruses.

Avoid unprotected sex, never share razors, nail scissors, clippers or toothbrushes, only use properly licensed tattoo parlours or acupuncture specialists, and if you are heading off on a far-flung holiday check with your GP first to see whether you should get vaccinated against Hepatitis A or B. There is no vaccine against Hepatitis C.
Ever had a blood transfusion?

If this was before 1991 when blood wasn’t screened for viral hepatitis you could have Hepatitis B or C without knowing: Ask your GP to be tested.

The same applies if you have ever received medical or dental treatment in countries where the equipment may have been inadequately sterilised. Treatment works best if the virus is detected early – so protect yourself by getting the answers you need.
Have a cup of coffee

Bizarre but true: One cup of coffee a day was found to decrease the risk of dangerous scarring (cirrhosis) of the liver by 22 per cent.

While you shouldn’t use it as an excuse to get blotto then down a morning cappuccino in compensation, the drink certainly has a protective effect, say researchers in California