Liver Facts
The liver is the largest internal and most metabolically complex organ in humans.
As one of the body’s largest internal organs, the liver affects nearly every physiological process of the body and performs over 500 different chemical functions.
Its weight is around 1.36 kilograms and is reddish-brown in color. It’s the second largest organ besides skin.
It neutralises toxins ,fights off infection, , manufacture proteins and hormones, controll blood sugar and help to clot the blood.
The liver is the only organ that can regenerate itself thus making it possible for one person to donate part of their liver to another person.
When a portion of the liver is transplanted, the donor’s liver will regenerate back to its original size while the transplanted portion will grow to the appropriate size for the recipient.
10% of our liver is made up of fat. If the fat content in the liver goes above 10% its called fatty liver and makes you more likely to get type 2 diabetes.
The liver contains about 10% of the blood in your body and it pumps about 1.4 litres through per minute.
Dr. Thomas E. Starzl performed the first human liver transplant in 1963 at the University of Colorado Medical School.
Four years later, the availability of more effective immunosuppressives enabled Dr. Starzl to perform the first successful liver transplant.
Our body cannot use medicines we take, our liver converts medicine into a form accepted by our bodies. Without the liver medicine would be useless.
The first liver transplant in Canada was performed by Dr. Pierre Daloze in Montreal, Quebec in 1970.
The enzymes and chemicals required to form blood clots to stop bleeding are secreted by the liver.
Our liver produces bile which is responsible for giving our stool its characteristic brown color.
If the color of the stool is not brown it means something is wrong with the liver.
The liver filters over a liter of blood each minute, removing toxins such as air pollutants, pesticides, cigarette smoke, environmental chemicals, alcohol, and prescription and non-prescription drugs.
Fried and processed foods can also damage the liver. Hydrogenated fats and the chemicals found in processed foods cause the liver to work harder, increasing the burden on an already taxed organ.
Liver disease and cirrhosis are the 7th leading cause of death among adults between the ages of 25 and 64 in the US.
Hepatitis C is the number one reason for liver transplantation in the US.
Chronic hepatitis C and alcoholic liver disease are the leading causes of cirrhosis in the US.
According to the National Institutes of Health, a sign of liver disease is jaundice, which is the yellowing of the skin.
The Greek word for liver is ‘hepar’, that’s why medical terms related to the liver often start in ‘hepato’ or ‘hepatic’.
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