Six tips to enhance liver function that you should never miss

The liver plays a role in removing toxins, metabolizing and decomposing proteins, and can be said to be the busiest organ in the human body. Modern people's irregular work and rest schedules, staying up late, and even bad habits such as drinking and smoking will invisibly harm the liver.

1. Drink more lemon water.

Water helps speed up metabolism, excrete impurities and toxins from the body, and reduce the burden on the liver. Drink a glass of warm water after getting up every day, it can awaken the functions of the whole body. Dr. Peter Kramer, an American liver disease expert, recommends: You can try adding lemon to water. The acidity of lemon can stimulate the liver to produce bile, which is beneficial for detoxification of the body. Drink 8 to 10 cups a day, 300 ml each time.

2. Eat purple cabbage often.

Cruciferous vegetables include beets, radishes, cabbage, purple cabbage and arugula, or vegetables containing sulfur, such as onions, garlic and cauliflower, all of which can enhance the body's detoxification function. Eating two servings of cruciferous vegetables a day can enhance the liver's detoxification function.

3. Get massage regularly.

While lying flat on your back, gently massage the gallbladder and liver area, located approximately below the ribs on the right side of the body. Stephen Stewart, a hepatologist at the Met Hospital in the UK, believes that massage can help promote blood circulation in the liver, thereby improving the body's metabolic function.

4. Stay away from alcohol and drugs.

Alcohol is extremely harmful to liver function. People with liver damage must quit drinking. In addition, many people are accustomed to buying over-the-counter painkillers from the pharmacy when they are unwell, but these drugs may contain acetaminophen, which may produce some toxic metabolites after being metabolized by the liver and cause liver damage.

5. Supplement minerals.

Make sure you get enough minerals in your daily diet, such as magnesium, calcium, potassium, zinc, selenium, and manganese. For patients with cirrhosis, doctors may also recommend that they supplement with more vitamins and minerals than usual to activate liver function.

6. Make your own liver-protecting tea.

Milk thistle, turmeric, and dandelion are all thought to help cleanse and protect the liver. Try taking 45 mg of turmeric, 400 mg of dandelion extract, or 400 mg of milk thistle daily. You can also soak fresh dandelion roots in boiling water as a tea, but make sure they are not contaminated with chemical pesticides.

How to protect liver function and avoid liver damage?

1. Maintain a normal weight

Being overweight makes your liver work harder and increases your risk of developing fatty liver disease.

2. Stay away from various instruments that may be contaminated by blood

Avoid unnecessary blood transfusions, injections, ear piercing, tattoos, sharing toothbrushes and razors with others, and reduce contact with instruments that may be contaminated by blood. Because hepatitis B and C are mainly transmitted through blood and body fluids, you will not be infected by eating at the same table with hepatitis B or C carriers.

3. Eat a balanced diet

In order to lose weight quickly, some people only eat fruits for three meals and no other foods, or they eat a "low-sugar diet" - a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. An unbalanced diet increases the burden on the liver.

4. Pay attention to food hygiene

Do not drink raw water or eat raw seafood, because clams, oysters and shellfish are easily infected with hepatitis A virus. If you plan to travel to areas with a high hepatitis A infection rate, such as mainland China, Southeast Asia, Central and South America, Africa, etc., it is best to get the hepatitis A vaccine before departure.

5. Don’t drink alcohol

Drinking alcohol increases the chance of developing fatty liver and alcoholic liver disease. People with liver disease should quit drinking completely.

6. Quit smoking

Smoking is linked to liver cancer.

7. Don’t take medicine randomly

All medicines taken must be detoxified by the liver. In addition to prescribed medications, avoid taking other medications on your own, because taking multiple medications can easily cause drug interactions and affect the liver's ability to metabolize drugs. When people with liver disease see a doctor, they should tell their doctor all the medications they are currently taking so that the doctor can use them as a reference when prescribing medicine.