The liver is just as vital an organ as the heart, but people often fail to appreciate the importance of keeping it healthy. This is why our Love Your Liver campaign is so vital to raise awareness of how important it is to look after your liver. The liver is a vital organ and gland, which carries out over 500 functions.
One of the liver’s most important functions is to break down food and convert it into energy. Carbohydrates, such as bread and potatoes, are broken down to glucose and stored mainly in the liver and muscles as glycogen. It also plays a vital role in fighting infections, particularly infections arising in the bowel.
According to Healthline, the following 4 things increase your risk of developing liver cancer.
1. Aflatoxins
Aflatoxins are known to cause hep atocellular carcinoma, which share similar etiologic factors with liver cirrhosis. Aflatoxins are a family of toxins produced by certain fungi that are found on agricultural crops such as maize (corn), peanuts, cottonseed, and tree nuts, wheat.
Dietary exposure to aflatoxins is among the major HCC risk factors. Aflatoxin B1, which is a genotoxic hepatocarcinogen, which presumptively causes cancer by inducing DNA adducts leading to genetic changes in target liver cells.
2. Viral infection such as Hepatitis B & C
Hepatitis is the term used to describe inflammation of the liver. It’s usually the result of a viral infection or liver damage caused by drinking alcohol. Worldwide, the most common risk factor for liver cancer is chronic (long-term) infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV). These infections lead to cirrhosis of the liver and are responsible for making liver cancer the most common cancer in many parts of the world.
There are many types of liver disease, which can be caused by infections, inherited conditions, obesity and misuse of alcohol. Over time, liver disease may lead to scarring and more serious complications. Early treatment can help heal the damage and prevent liver failure.
3. Excessive consumption of alcohol.
Each time your liver filters alcohol, some of the liver cells die. The liver can develop new cells, but prolonged alcohol misuse drinking too much over many years can reduce its ability to regenerate. This can result in serious and permanent damage to your liver. There are many health risks of chronic alcohol abuse, ranging from high blood pressure to stroke. People are most familiar with alcohol’s negative effects on the liver.
4. Being obese and overweight.
Being overweight or obese causes fat to accumulate in the liver. This leads to chronic inflammation and scarring of the liver also known as cirrhosis. What’s alarming about this fact is that most people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease present no symptoms.
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