The body’s laboratory: are you really taking care of it properly?

It is one of the largest and most important organs in the body. It works constantly to keep us healthy, but the slightest malfunction can cause disaster. Here are fascinating facts about the human laboratory in our bodies:

If it were possible to peer inside without pain, we would see a reddish brown laboratory working at a dizzying pace. The liver sits in the upper right part of the abdomen, and it does not wait for you to remember it. It builds, breaks down, cleans, balances, stores and decides which substances will pass on and which will be delayed, all this while an incessant flow of blood.

The liver is the largest internal organ in the body. In an adult, it weighs about 1,500 grams, and its reddish brown color is related to its rich blood supply. Every moment a large amount of blood passes through it, and it functions as a central transit station between the digestive system and the rest of the body. This is one of the reasons why almost everything that is swallowed, absorbed and comes from the gut, passes in some way through the liver before it really affects other organs.

Its structure is divided into two main lobes, right and left, which contain smaller units. What looks like a single piece of tissue, is actually a neat collection of cells and tiny channels that conduct bile, filter blood and enable metabolism on a massive scale. One of the liver’s impressive powers is its ability to regenerate. Liver cells are able to divide and restore the tissue, therefore in certain situations only one lobe can be transplanted in children, and it may grow within weeks into a more functional liver. It’s not magic, it’s a biological restoration mechanism designed to protect life, but it’s not infinite, and lasting damage has a price.

The liver produces a long list of substances without which the body would not function. It produces bile, a substance that helps break down fats in the intestine. It produces the albumin protein that helps keep fluids inside the blood vessels. It produces clotting factors that make it possible to stop bleeding. It produces and breaks down sugars, fats and proteins, and balances energy levels as needed. When the concentration of sugar in the blood is high, the liver stores it as glycogen. When the concentration drops, it breaks down glycogen and returns glucose to the blood, so that the brain, muscles and other tissues do not collapse.

The liver is also a storehouse. It stores iron, vitamins such as A, D and B12, and excess energy. This means that when the diet goes wrong or there is an illness that limits absorption, the body can rely on these reserves for a while. But as stocks dwindle, risk rises, sometimes quickly. Therefore, persistent damage to the liver does not remain only in the stomach, it can become a systemic problem.

Aside from its capabilities, the liver is sensitive. Alcohol is one of the most common causes of heavy damage in the world. It damages the liver cells over time and may lead to scarring, cirrhosis and liver failure. On the other hand, there are viral liver infections, and there is also harm from drugs, sometimes from an overdose, sometimes from a dangerous combination, and sometimes due to personal sensitivity that cannot always be predicted in advance.

Meanwhile, the importance of fatty liver has increased in recent years, a condition in which fat accumulates in the liver tissue, mainly due to excess weight, a high-calorie diet and inactivity. At first it may be completely silent, without pain and without complaints. Later it may turn into inflammation, scarring and irreversible damage. The good news is that in the early stages, weight loss and lifestyle changes can make a real difference.

Next to the liver is the gallbladder, which stores the bile produced by the liver and releases it during a fatty meal. Bile breaks down fat into small droplets, thus allowing the enzymes to complete the breakdown and absorption process. The same effective mechanism is also the reason why when there is a problem with the flow of bile, for example stones in the gallbladder, pain, nausea and sometimes jaundice appear.

The liver insists on working even when we do not treat it. But he is also one of the first to pay a price for an unbalanced lifestyle. Those who reduce the load of alcohol, improve nutrition, lose weight and follow up medically when necessary, give this laboratory a chance to last for many years without collapsing at the unexpected moment.