World Liver Day 2022: How to keep tabs on your liver health

Liver is a very vital organ required for normal and healthy functioning of the human body. It not only helps in digestion and metabolism of fat, carbohydrates and proteins but also helps in detoxification of toxins and drugs from the blood. Apart from this, it carries out essential functions namely storage of vitamins and minerals, bile production and synthesis of proteins and clotting factors.  

People who are suffering from chronic liver disease are already under immune deregulation, which makes them vulnerable to severe infections. It has been witnessed that patients with chronic liver diseases show delayed recovery from infections, including Covid, according to various studies.

In India, liver disease is the tenth most common cause of death which leads to more than one lakh deaths. As per data released World health organisation (WHO), nearly 10 lakh new cases of chronic liver diseases are identified annually. Alcoholic liver disease is the major cause of liver damage, followed by Hepatitis B and C infections and non-alcoholic liver disease.

It is very important to have a healthy liver as it also helps in normal functioning of other vital organs. There are simple ways to keep a tab on liver health. First and the foremost is look for any symptom of liver disorder.

The signs and symptoms of liver disorder consist:

1. Jaundice i.e., yellowing of skin, urine and eyes

2. Generalised weakness and fatigue

3. Loss of weight and muscle mass

4. Abnormal bruising

5. Ascites i.e., building up of body fluids in the belly

Unfortunately, these signs and symptoms develop late in the course of liver disease when more than 80% of the functioning is affected. Therefore, it’s important to get routine check-up done regularly especially if a patient belong to a high-risk category.

High-risk category includes patients who have any of these mentioned below:

1. Obesity

2. Diabetes

3. Hypertension

4. Health care workers who are prone to get exposed to blood and body fluids

5. Sex workers

6. Hepatitis B or C

7. Family history of liver disease

Apart from this any person who has symptoms of liver dysfunction mentioned above should pay a visit to a doctor who will carry out certain blood and other tests to assess liver health. These blood tests are called liver function test. These tests are interpreted by a clinician and further testing can be done to ascertain the specific liver disease against which specific treatment can be started. However, one can adopt healthy life style which can help maintaining liver health.

Following are simple ways to keep liver and yourself healthy.

1. Eating healthy food: Avoid excessive fat and carbohydrates, packaged and processed foods, unhygienic street food, old foods and unfiltered water that might up your risk of getting Hepatitis A and Hepatitis E, fatty food and foods loaded with artificial sweeteners or fructose spell trouble for your liver.

2. Include green vegetables in diet

3. Avoid excessive alcohol consumption because when you overdo alcohol consumption, your liver tends to have a build-up of fat. And this is when you get fatty liver. It is best to limit your alcohol consumption to a minimum or do away with alcohol to prevent fatty liver. Besides this alcohol can also cause cirrhosis, one of the leading causes of death across the world.

4. Doing regular exercise.

5. Try to cut down salt from your diet because salt is not just associated with blood pressure and heart-related disorders. Consumption of excess salt can lead to water retention in liver and fatty liver disease.

6. Get vaccination for hepatitis A and B

READ | Study unveils how ultra-processed foods impact adolescent health

The author is Senior Consultant - Liver, Pancreas and Intestine Transplant & HPB Surgery at Global Hospital, Mumbai.