As the largest internal organ in the body, your liver is involved in hundreds of health-related functions. From metabolizing proteins, carbohydrates and fats, to filtering the blood and removing toxins, the liver plays an essential role in your overall health.
Certain lifestyle habits and health conditions can harm the liver. However, many people with poor liver health do not look or feel ill, meaning the damage can go undetected for years and potentially lead to more severe complications.
So, how can you stay aware of your liver health and prevent issues like liver disease? From understanding your liver’s most important functions to knowing your risk factors and screening for evidence of liver disease, here’s what you need to know.
Understanding the top functions of the liver
At any given moment, the liver holds about 13% of the body’s blood supply (or approximately one pint).
As blood flows through the liver, the organ performs hundreds of vital functions for your health, including:
- Cleaning toxins (i.e., harmful substances) out of the blood
- Removing old red blood cells
- Producing bile, a fluid that supports digestion
- Metabolizing proteins, carbohydrates and fats
- Producing cholesterol and special proteins to help move fats through the body
- Regulating blood clotting
- Storing vitamins and glycogen (i.e., a source of energy) to be used later
- Producing immune factors to remove bacteria from the bloodstream
- Processing hemoglobin to use and store its iron content
- Regulating blood levels of amino acids (i.e., the building blocks of proteins)
Navigating risk factors for liver disease
Both lifestyle habits and inherited conditions can affect the health of your liver.
For example, fatty liver disease develops when there is an excess of fat buildup in the liver. Sometimes this happens because of heavy alcohol consumption. However, it is also possible to develop metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), formerly called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). With MASH, fat buildup in the liver occurs as a result of other risk factors. While there are several potential causes of MASH, there is currently no consensus as to why some people develop the disease and others do not.
Still, there are many factors that can increase your risk of MASH and other forms of liver disease, including:
- Obesity
- Insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes
- High cholesterol and high triglycerides
- Metabolic syndrome
- Inherited diseases, such as hemochromatosis (excess iron absorption) and Wilson disease (excess copper in the body)
- Viral infections, such as hepatitis B and hepatitis C
Regardless of how or why fat accumulates in the liver, the fat buildup causes your body to try and protect the organ, leading to inflammation and scarring of the liver, impairing its ability to function properly. If left unaddressed, liver disease can cause more serious health complications, such as cirrhosis (i.e., permanent liver scarring), liver failure or liver cancer.
Protecting your liver health
Your liver is constantly working hard to keep you healthy. However, even when liver disease develops, many people don’t necessarily look or feel sick. As a result, liver disease can sometimes go undetected for years, increasing the risk of permanent complications like cirrhosis.
In addition to following healthy lifestyle habits (e.g., limiting alcohol intake, exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy weight), taking a liver health test can help you stay vigilant. With liver health tests, you can monitor your liver status before it progresses into potential complications.
The Liver Health Test from Labcorp OnDemand, for example, checks the levels of certain enzymes and proteins in your blood. Based on these levels, the test generates a risk calculation—called the FIB-4 score—to give you a more comprehensive picture of your liver health. While it is not intended to diagnose any form of liver disease, our Liver Health Test can help you screen for evidence of liver inflammation or indicators of liver disease or fibrosis, and can help guide discussions with your provider about the most appropriate path forward to monitor and help prevent or slow the progression of disease.
Ready to learn more about one of your body’s most vital organs? Purchase your own Liver Health Test today.
