Cleanse Your Liver

An liver expert says avoiding alcohol and eating a healthy diet are enough to cleanse your liver.

15:27 20 May 2016

Dr Nick Fuller, of the University of Sydney, who specialises in treatment of obesity and metabolic disorders, said that taking expensive alternative medicine will do little to aid the liver in its work. In fact, he says, the best way to cleanse your body is free.

 

 

The human adult liver weighs about one-and-a-half kilograms and is responsible for breaking down fats, carbohydrates and proteins into substances that the body can use. It also metabolises toxins into harmless substances and eliminates toxic materials from the body.

 

Clever marketing has led us to believe that cleansing the body can be achieved by following a detox diet. Well, this is a complete fallacy as the liver is effective in eliminating unwanted substances in the body through faeces and urine.

 

Several companies produce a range of liver detox or liver cleanse products with varying ingredient compositions. But are they proven to really help with liver repair?

 

·       Milk Thistle - Among the products available in the market today, milk thistle, which active ingredient is Silymarin, is the most commonly marketed herb for liver detoxification. The majority of studies conducted to prove its efficacy reveal that although there’s evidence to suggest that milk thistle is beneficial in improving insulin resistance, blood cholesterol and inflammatory markers in the body, there’s no evidence to suggest that it detoxifies the liver, which many of these products claim.

 

 

·       Dandelion – Dandelion’s therapeutic use dates back to the tenth century and since then, it has been tested for a range of diseases. Just like milk thistle extract, there is no strong evidence to suggest that it eliminates toxins and detoxify the liver.

 

 

To achieve optimum health for your liver, all you have to do is to eat healthy foods and limit the consumption of alcohol that makes the liver work harder.