No one can deny that a healthy diet is a reason for being healthy. Everyone wants to live a healthy and disease-free lifestyle, and for that nutrient-rich diet is very essential. A nutrient-rich diet contains all the vitamins, and minerals, and has low calories, sugar, and salt.
Continuous consumption of unhealthy food or nutrient-deficient food items results in various health problems. Many body organs are also show malfunctioning due to the deficiency of particular nutrients.
Similarly, your liver also shows abnormalities due to the deficiency of vitamins. Hence it is necessary to know what vitamins are good for the liver. Any kind of liver impairment is mainly because of the vitamin deficit in the body. But how do you get to know about this issue?
Well, any kind of changes that happen to your body will be shown up on your body visibly. Although there are no such clear signs or symptoms of liver diseases, you can get an idea about liver health by noticing the color of your eyes, skin, or urine.
Vitamins are very essential for a healthy liver, hence it is important to be aware of vitamins, that are good for the liver. Do you have any interest to know what vitamins are good for the liver, then move scroll down!
This post covers every detail about a healthy liver, liver diseases, and what vitamins are good for the liver, so read it thoroughly without missing any information.
Healthy Liver
The liver is a vital organ of the body and the second largest organ of the human body. A healthy liver performs various functions to keep the body healthy. It is an essential organ for the digestive system, as it produces bile, which is required for the breakdown of fatty acids.
Some most important functions performed by the liver are such as:
- Production of bile and certain proteins for the blood plasma
- Maintain the level of glucose by converting it into glycogen and storing it for later use
- Cleansing the blood by eliminating wasteful or toxic substances
- Also removes harmful bacteria from the blood
- Stores iron for hemoglobin
In short, the liver play important role in digestion, excretion, protection against bacterial infection, and energy production. You can say that without a liver you can’t live a life. Hence, it is very important to keep it healthy by eating a healthy diet. To know what vitamins are good for the liver, first, see what types of diseases are linked with the liver.
Liver Diseases
Well, it’s a miracle if you don’t go through any liver failure or liver disease problems in your life. Otherwise, lots of people in the world die due to liver diseases. The estimated data about the death of the people because of liver disease is about 2 million. While the World Gastroenterology Organization estimates that more than 50 million people are suffering from chronic liver disease.
Liver diseases can occur due to various reasons but the most common are obesity, infection, excess alcohol consumption, and sometimes it is hereditary. The liver disease leads to other complications like liver failure or liver cancer, if not getting treatment. Hence, whenever you see the slight symptoms or signs of liver disease, go for a check-up.
1. Liver Cancer
One of the most prominent liver diseases is liver cancer. It occurs when the damaged cells of the body start dividing continuously and also affects normal cells. As a result, a tumor or a mass of cells is formed. Similarly, when abnormal liver cells grow rapidly and multiply to form a tumor in the Liver it may cause liver cancer.
Generally, It is found in two categories, the first is primary liver cancer and the second is secondary liver cancer.
Primary Liver Cancer
The first site of occurrence of this cancer is the Liver. Its most common type is hepatocellular carcinoma.
Secondary Liver Cancer
In this case, the formation of the tumor begins in the other part of the body instead of the liver, then it spread to liver tissues.
2. Liver Cell Adenoma
It is a benign tumor formed in the liver. Also called Hepatic adenoma, more common in women below 30 years. The major risk factor of it is the ingestion of estrogen or progesterone-based oral contraceptive pills.
Although it is a kind of benign tumor in the liver cells, hence the chances of its conversion into a cancerous tumor are rare. But there is a 5% possibility of getting cancer from liver cell adenoma.
3. Hemochromatosis
In this case, your body absorbs too much iron instead of the required amount and stores it in joints and body organs including the liver, heart, and pancreas. It can happen because of two reasons, one is hereditary, and the other is due to serious health conditions like liver diseases, and anemia.
4. Wilson’s Disease
Wilson’s disease is a rare hereditary disorder that occurs due to the accumulation of copper in the liver, and brain. It is a kind of metabolic liver disease.
Generally, the liver removes excess copper and maintains its level in the body. But unfortunately, when the liver fails to eliminate excess copper, then it will accumulate in the body parts.
5. Autoimmune Hepatitis
Autoimmune Hepatitis is a chronic liver disease that results in inflammation in the liver cells. It happens when your immune system attacks liver cells and causes inflammation.
In worst cases, it may lead to liver cell death.
6. Hepatitis A
It is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis A virus (HAV). Once this virus enters the bloodstream it reaches the liver and causes swelling and inflammation.
7. Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B viruses are the causative agent of hepatitis b disease. It is the most serious liver infection that causes liver injury.
8. Hepatitis C
Just like other types of hepatitis, this one is also a result of viral infections. Hepatitis C virus causes liver damage and liver disease.
Knowing about various types of liver disease is not sufficient until you don’t treat your disease and keep your liver healthy. Vitamins are very essential for our body but what vitamins are good for the liver, do you know? Let’s see what vitamins are good for the liver and help in the prevention of liver disease.
What Vitamins Are Good For the liver
1. Vitamin E
Vitamin E is an excellent source of antioxidants. It protects the liver from severe diseases like nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and alcoholic fatty liver disease. NAFLD is caused due to fat accumulation in the liver as a result other organs are also getting affected.
The liver does metabolic activities in which it breaks down compounds into reactive oxygen radicals. These radicals are not good for the liver, as they cause liver damage and also affect liver function.
The antioxidants remove the oxidative or antioxidative radicles and also balance the oxidative stress which generally occurs when the level of antioxidants decreases in the liver. But vitamin E helps to balance antioxidants and free radicles in the liver. In this way, it also protects from digestive and kidney diseases by keeping the liver healthy.
Source of Vitamin E
Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, avocado, soybean oil, wheat germ oil, peanuts, almonds, mango, spinach, and salmon.
2. Vitamin C
Eating excess fried foods results in weight gain and fat accumulation. This happens in the liver because the liver breaks the fats but in deficiency of antioxidants, it becomes unable to perform fat metabolism.
Vitamin C is also rich in antioxidants just like vitamin E. It performs the same functions as vitamin E, reduces fat accumulation, neutralizes free radicles, and maintains oxidative stress.
It is also effective in the prevention of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis by ceasing steatosis formation. Due to its powerful antioxidant property, it is also used in various liver supplements
Source of Vitamin C
Citric fruits, tomatoes, potatoes, brussels sprouts, kiwi, strawberries, broccoli, red, and green pepper.
3. Vitamins of B Class
Vitamin B is very effective to reduce liver diseases at their early stages. That’s why vitamin B-rich food is considered to be best to keep the liver healthy.
The main function of B vitamins is to regenerate the liver. That means if you have fibrosis or any inflammation in liver tissue, vitamin B supplements help not only in reduction but also in preventing it to turn into cirrhosis.
Source of B Vitamins
Milk, egg, beef, meat, chicken, soybean, banana, green leafy vegetables, and fortified foods.
4. Vitamin D
Through studies, it has been found that all the patients who have chronic liver disease have vitamin D deficiency. Even the patients with cirrhosis also show vitamin d deficiency.
Vitamin D is very essential for curing alcoholic fatty liver disease. It is also effective in the reduction of hepatic inflammation. Vitamin d deficiency is also observed in Hepatitis B virus-infected patients.
The anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic properties make it an important vitamin in this list of what vitamins are good for the liver. Hence, it is clear that the use of vitamin d containing dietary supplements is helpful in the treatment of chronic liver disease.
Source of Vitamin D
Fish (salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines), meat, egg yolks, cod liver oil, and fortified food.
Now, you know all the detail regarding what vitamins are good for the liver. So consume a healthy and essential vitamins-rich diet. If you reach the end of this article then let us know what other sources of these vitamins you know.
