Alcohol is said to be the “killer” of people with liver disease. However, there are habits that harm the liver that are many times more serious.
The liver is the organ responsible for the purification and removal of all toxins from the body. It works almost like a blood filter and is also not immune to “mistakes” during operation. Unfortunately, there are many other liver-damaging habits that sufferers must face.
* Eating too many processed foods.
Overall, not all processed foods are bad. According to Dr. Sonja Olsen, a gastroenterologist at NYU Langone Medical Center, people should limit processed foods. These foods contain a lot of fats and preservatives that can damage the liver. Ingesting too many calories from fat contributes to an increased risk of fatty liver disease.
* No exercise.
The benefits of exercise for health are quite a lot: helping to stabilize mood, sleep well, save medical costs, enhance brain health. As a very important organ of the body, you need to take good care of your liver health. Dr. Olsen advises that regular exercise reduces carbohydrate storage while burning excess fat stored in the liver.
* Obesity due to uncontrolled weight.
Uncontrolled lifestyle makes the body fat is one of the habits that damage the liver the most. Obesity predisposes the liver to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NASH). If not treated early, NASH can lead to cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer even if the person does not drink alcohol.
Fatty liver disease is really scary because it has almost no symptoms. Patients will not realize their health status until they have entered the final stages. Therefore, you need to closely control your weight through diet and exercise to keep your liver healthy.
* Taking pain relievers without prescription.
Acetaminophen, Tylenol are commonly used pain relievers. Dr. Olsen said that if you use this medicine in the right dosage there should be no problem. But if used in excess, it will lead to toxicity to the liver and body. Especially if you use these types in combination with alcohol, the liver will be destroyed twice as fast. Make sure to use cough, cold, sinusitis medicine, etc. that do not contain pain-relieving ingredients.
* Use functional foods to lose weight.
Losing weight safely is a process that requires a lot of effort and patience. Therefore, many people have given up and believed in the promises of fast weight loss with functional foods. These drugs save time but are listed by the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) as the most harmful drug to the human liver.
Even drugs that are advertised as natural can still damage the liver. A review conducted in 2011 showed that substances in weight loss pills that are believed to be derived from green tea, containing LipoKinetix and Hydroxycut also carry many toxicity.
