Of all the things you might want for dinner, probably the least likely thing is liver. Blek! Despite a few hard core liver lovers, most people think liver is the most disgusting food they were ever made to eat. Whether you like to eat it or not, you should LOVE what your liver does for you and your body because it is truly one of the most amazing organs you have!
Your liver is the biggest and heaviest internal organ you have. On average, it measures just less than six inches and weighs a little over three pounds in an adult. It is reddish-brown in color, wedge shaped, and has four lobes of unequal size and shape. It is located in the upper right side of your belly, just below the diaphragm and to the right of the stomach.
Not only is it the biggest and heaviest organ you have, but it is also the busiest. It is estimated that your liver performs up to 500 separate functions. That alone is a testament to how AMAZING it is! Can you imagine having to work 500 different jobs!? The work is done by the cells of the liver, hepatic cells, which number some 300 billion! That’s a lot! Think of it this way, it was estimated in 2019 that there are 7.7 billion people in the world. So that’s nearly 40 times as many cells in your liver as there are people in the world!
Probably the biggest job your liver has is filtering blood from your digestive tract before sending it out to the rest of your body. For example, when you eat something that has more vitamins than your body actually needs at the time, your liver filters out the excess and stores them for a time when you do need them. It also filters out toxins, those things that are harmful for your body. Your liver filters about 2.5 pints a minute when your body is resting. That’s nearly 20 gallons an hour! That’s a hard working liver, minute by minute, hour by hour, and day in and day out!
In addition to receiving blood from the digestive tract though, the liver also receives blood from the aorta, the large artery off of the heart, to bathe the cells in fresh, oxygenated blood. Because of these two sources, there is typically a large supply of blood in the liver. In fact, it’s the presence of blood that gives the liver its distinctive color. About a quarter of all the blood in the body is in the liver at any given time. When your body needs blood, it relies on the reserves in the liver.
Some of the other many important functions of the liver are manufacturing and storing glycogen, a sugar which your body uses as energy; stabilizing your blood sugar level; and inactivating some drugs. It also builds enzymes, processes digested fats and proteins, manufactures bile and cholesterol, and constitutes an important source of heat. And remember there are still over 400 and some other jobs the liver does!
Your body is amazing and the liver is just one particular example of the miracle that is you. Your liver, like every organ and system of your body, relies on good communication from your brain via your nerve system to function at its best. That’s why seeing your chiropractor regularly is so important. Your chiropractor will check your spine to insure that the individual bones aren’t distorting the function of your nerve system. The clearer you nerve system, the better the communication and the better your liver can get on with all the AMAZING work it has to do!
—By Judy Nutz Campanale, DC, ACP, FCSC (hon)
