What are liver diseases?
Have you ever heard of grandparents or people of their generation talking about liver problems? Not usually, isn’t it? This is because of the fact that their daily lifestyle, food habits and physical activity levels were all favourable for a healthy liver. But, people of the present generation, especially of the urban population, seem to discuss a lot about liver diseases such as jaundice, fatty liver or liver cirrhosis. This is because we have adopted a culture of regular consumption of fast food or habitual drinking, all of which are directly or indirectly damaging the liver and causing various liver diseases.
Loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, pain in the upper abdomen and generalised weakness are some of the common symptoms of liver diseases. Treatment may range from medications to transplantation of the liver depending on the severity of the condition.
The liver is one of the important visceral (deeper) organs of the body. The liver performs various functions such as:
1.Produces and secretes bile acids that are helpful in the digestion and absorption of fats and fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E and K.
2.Filters the blood that comes from the digestive tract before it enters the rest of the body
3.Detoxifies chemicals and drugs
4.Removes bilirubin (formed by the breakdown of haemoglobin of the red blood cells) from the blood