How to Support and Keep the Liver and Gut Healthy

The liver plays a vital role in the body and an essential part of the body’s regulation and filtration system. The liver cleanses the blood, coverts toxins to waste, and breaks down nutrients and medications. There are certain foods and drinks that a person can add to their diet to keep the liver healthy, and items to avoid to maintain optimal liver health. By picking certain foods that are beneficial for the liver, this can help steer clear of potential health issues that may arise in the future. Along with food and drinks, lifestyle factors play a large role in the risk of developing liver diseases. Here are some main controllable factors to look into:

1. Keeping a healthy weight. Fatty deposits can build up and accumulate in the liver, which causes damage over time. This leads to scarring and inflammation of the liver, also known as cirrhosis. Being overweight or obese can cause fatty liver, which can in turn result in Non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This causes more fatty liver disease than alcohol consumption. Maintaining a healthy weight is important for reducing your risk of developing liver disease. Weight loss also can help reduce liver fat. Slow weight loss of 1-2 pounds per week has proven to be the best approach. A healthy BMI is 18-25, overweight is categorized with BMI 26-29, and obesity is 30 or above. This is determined from your body weight and height. 
2. Exercise regularly. In the liver, exercise increases fatty acid oxidation, decreases fatty acid synthesis, and prevents mitochondrial and hepatocellular damage. This means it is a proven therapeutic strategy to improve fatty liver disease [1]. Exercising consistently helps burn triglycerides and in turn cut down on the liver fat. According to Dr. Melissa Palmer, author and heptologist, the best type of movement is combining aerobic exercises and weight-bearing [2]. Aerobic exercises include running, walking, swimming, or biking. These focus on your cardiovascular system, which increases your heart rate and helps speed up your delivery of oxygen to organs. Blood can flow easier with less effort from these exercises, which in turn allows the heart to receive blood. Weight-bearing includes weight training, which aids in bone strength. This is important as liver disease can lead to osteoporosis, where your bones can become thin and weak. Weight training also improves muscle strength, reduces body fat, and increases your lean body mass, which in turn increases your metabolism. It is recommended to do 10-20 minutes of aerobic exercise per day, and weight-bearing 2-3 times per week.
3. Alcohol. Alcoholic beverages can damage or destroy the liver cells and leave scarring. The liver processes around 90% of alcohol when consumed, and the remaining exits the body via urine, sweat, and breathing [3]. Having more than 8 drinks per week for women and 15 for men increases the risk of jaundice, cirrhosis, liver failure, liver cancer, and many other conditions. When a person has too much to drink, the unprocessed alcohol circulates the blood stream. This is due to the fact that the liver processes a certain amount of alcohol at one time. Chronic alcohol abuse causes the liver cells to destruct and scar the liver (cirrhosis).
4. Avoiding smoking. 
5. Eat a balanced diet.  A well rounded diet of fiber, leafy greens/vegetables, fruit, low fat dairy items, and healthy fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) contribute to an overall healthy lifestyle. Specific food and drinks include:
1. Coffee: Coffee protects against fatty liver disease. The review also notes that daily coffee intake may help reduce the risk of chronic liver disease and liver cancer [4]. It reduces fat buildup and increases antioxidants which help free the body of cancer-causing substances.
2.  Fiber: Fiber binds with bile and removes cholesterol, toxins, fat, and leaves in a bowel movement. This is important because a poor intake of fiber can create bile with these items that gets recycled back to the liver. There are two types of fiber: insoluble and soluble. Insoluble fiber adds bulk to the stool and appears to help food pass more quickly through the stomach and intestines. This is found in whole grains, cereals, certain fruits and vegetables (cauliflower, prunes, dark leafy greens). Soluble fiber attracts water and turns to gel during digestion. This reduces cholesterol and is found in oats, beans and certain fruits and vegetables (black beans, broccoli, strawberries, pears and avocados). Recommended to have 25-30g fiber per day. 
3. Berries, Grapes, Grapefruit: Many dark berries contain antioxidants called polyphenols, which may help protect the liver from damage. Grape seeds, skin, and pulp also contain antioxidants. Grapefruit contains two primary antioxidants: naringin and naringenin. These may help protect the liver from injury by reducing inflammation and protecting the liver cells [5].
4. Fatty fish: Fatty fish are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which can help reduce the levels of fat and inflammation in the liver. Eating fatty fish helps combat a fatty liver. These include: Salmon, sardines, tuna, and trout.
5.  Nuts/Olive oil/Flaxseed oil: Healthy fats, including unsaturated fats, in replacement of trans or saturated fats can reduce oxidative stress for the liver. Walnuts, sunflower seeds, and avocado are also beneficial in this area.

Foods to avoid: Certain foods

• Fatty foods: Saturated and trans fats. These are mostly found in fried foods, restaurant foods, packaged items (snacks, chips, cookies, etc). 
• Processed carbohydrates/sugar: Very processed items- white breads, cakes, baked goods, candy, soda. Reducing the intake of these can reduce stress on the liver. 
• Salt: Reducing canned/packaged items, avoid adding salt to meals, take out, or salted deli meats and bacon.

References:

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5954622/
2. https://www.livestrong.com/article/287774-the-effect-of-exercise-on-liver-function/
3. https://www.addictioncenter.com/alcohol/liver/
4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25291138/
5. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30031061/
6. https://liverfoundation.org/
7. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/11-foods-for-your-liver#_noHeaderPrefixedContent
8. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323915