What is the youngest organ in the human body? You might not think of it as liver. A new study recently determined that no matter how old a person is, the liver is still only 3 years old.
Why can the liver “remain young forever”?
" Life Times " combines research and interviews with experts to interpret the secret of its "immortality" and teach you a few tricks to protect its vitality.
Experts interviewed
Chief Physician of the Liver Disease Clinic, Department of Infectious Diseases, Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University Zhu Liying
The liver is always only 3 years old in a person's life
Recently, a study was published in the sub-issue of the authoritative American journal "Cell" Research from Cell Systems shows that no matter how old a person is, the average age of the liver is less than 3 years old. Aging in life will not affect the renewal of liver cells.
The study was completed by the Center for Regenerative Therapy at the Technical University of Dresden in Germany. A team of biologists, physicists, mathematicians and clinicians who participated in the study analyzed the livers of multiple people who died between the ages of 20 and 84. It was later confirmed that no matter how old they are, the age of liver cells in these people is almost the same, which is about 3 years old.
Research results show that the demands on the body for liver mass are regulated by the constant replacement of liver cells, a process that is maintained even in old age and is important for liver regeneration and the formation of cancer .
Liver cell renewal ensures the six major functions of the human body
It is precisely because liver cells have the ability to renew, repair and regenerate that they can continue to deal with toxic substances. Likewise, this explains why liver transplants can use only part of a donor's liver.
A powerful liver usually ensures the operation of 6 major functions of the human body:
manufacturing and secreting bile
The liver converts the heme in the hemoglobin in red blood cells that ages every day into bilirubin and secretes it into bile.
About 600 to 1000 ml of bile is continuously secreted from the liver every day and flows into the duodenum from the bile duct to help fat digestion and the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.
Once bilirubin cannot be produced and excreted normally by the liver, it will accumulate in the blood and cause jaundice.
Metabolic function
Human beings eat a lot of food every day. The proteins, fats, sugars and vitamins must first go to the liver for chemical processing and become the nutrients needed by the human body, and then used for life activities.
Detoxification function
The liver is the largest detoxification organ in the human body. It can protect the body from damage and turn poisons into non-toxic or highly soluble substances, which are excreted from the body with bile or urine. This is an important function to maintain life.
Whether it is food or drugs, they are inevitably "toxic". Once the liver's detoxification ability decreases, the consequences will be disastrous.
Phagocytosis or immune function
The liver is the largest defense system in the human body. It protects health by phagocytosis, isolation, and elimination of various invading and endogenous pathogens. Any maintenance and improvement of immunity must rely on normal liver function.
Coagulation function
If people accidentally injure their skin when shaving or cutting vegetables, the liver will produce coagulation factor to stop the wound from bleeding. The liver is the place where many blood coagulation substances are synthesized or produced.
Regulate blood circulation volume
Under normal conditions, the intrahepatic venous sinusoids can store a certain amount of blood. When the body loses blood, more blood is discharged from the intrahepatic venous sinus to compensate for the lack of peripheral circulation blood volume.
These habits are shortening the life of the liver
Although the liver can "remain young forever", if it repeatedly suffers the following injuries, its energy will be exhausted and it will tire out in advance, eventually causing a variety of diseases.
+ Excessive drinking
Excessive drinking will reduce the liver's ability to purify the blood, lead to an increase in toxins in the body, and induce liver damage. In addition, alcoholism can easily lead to liver poisoning and induce hepatitis.
Long-term excessive drinking can easily lead to liver cirrhosis . Drinking more than two glasses (25 ml) of high-concentration alcohol per day can damage the liver.
+ Indiscriminate use of medicines
A variety of drugs and their metabolites can easily cause liver damage, leading to drug-induced hepatitis , including antibiotics, antipyretic analgesics , antipsychotic drugs and so on.
+ Insufficient sleep
Staying up late is most likely to cause liver disease. During sleep, the human body will enter a self-repair mode. Frequent staying up late will not only lead to lack of sleep, reduce the body's resistance, but also affect the liver's self-repair at night.
＋Depression Love and Anger
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that anger hurts the liver, because the liver has the function of ascending, releasing, and venting, and is responsible for the smooth and smooth flow of Qi throughout the body. Anger leads to qi stagnation and blockage, and blockage leads to the onset of all kinds of diseases.
Clinically, symptoms such as headache, dizziness, tinnitus , irritability, insomnia, and mental confusion are common. Anger can also directly damage liver parenchyma and destroy the liver's function of storing blood and regulating blood volume.
+ Overeating
Eating too much will increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract and induce fatty liver. Overeating not only damages the health of the gastrointestinal tract, but also easily causes the increase of free radicals in the body.
The key role of the liver is to help the body deal with free radicals, eliminate toxins, and purify the blood. The more free radicals there are in the human body, the more serious the damage to liver function will be.
+ prefers fried foods
Studies have found that eating fried foods for one month can cause significant changes in the liver, and the accumulation of oil and saturated fatty acids can lead to fatty liver.
＋ Smoking
When too many free radicals in tobacco enter the human body and exceed the body's ability to scavenge antioxidant free radicals, it can lead to an imbalance of the oxidation-antioxidant system in the liver tissue, causing oxidative stress to occur, and causing lipids in the cell membrane. Plasma peroxidation can cause tissue damage, necrosis, cell proliferation, and even fibrosis and cancer.
If you want to nourish your liver well and give it the ability to sustainably repair, you must also do the following:
- Lose weight and lower fat: Obese people with fatty liver should pay attention to adjusting their diet, and low-fat diet is appropriate, and Mainly plant-based fats, and the intake of cholesterol should be limited. Aim for half an hour of moderate-intensity physical exercise every day.
- Do not take large amounts of liver-protecting drugs: Liver-protecting drugs only have an auxiliary therapeutic effect on the disease and treat the symptoms but not the root cause. As long as it is a drug, taking too much will increase the burden on the liver.
- Eat animal liver in moderation: In order to "replenish" the liver, some people will choose to eat more animal liver, but this approach is not advisable. Animal livers are high in cholesterol and may also contain toxins. Patients with liver disease already have liver damage. If they eat too much animal liver, they will not be able to protect the liver but will damage the liver.
- It is recommended that the daily diet should control the intake of meat and eat more foods that can enhance the detoxification function of the liver, such as cauliflower, tomatoes, cucumbers, bitter melon, carrots , etc. ▲
Editor of this issue: Zhang Yu
Copyright statement: This article is original to "Life Times" and any unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.
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