The liver is located in the upper right abdomen of the human body. It can be called the "chemical factory" of the body that works day and night. It is responsible for a series of key functions such as metabolism, detoxification, and nutrient synthesis. It is "silent and patient" and rarely sends out pain signals at the beginning of the injury. By the time obvious discomfort occurs, the best opportunity for intervention has often been missed.
In recent years, the number of patients with liver disease in my country has continued to rise, and the trend of younger patients deserves vigilance. Many inadvertent daily habits are quietly damaging liver cells. Therefore, protecting the liver regardless of age, young people must not take the following five things that the liver is most afraid of seriously.
Most afraid of drinking
People who drink a lot of alcohol every day are 5 to 25 times more likely to develop alcoholic fatty liver disease than ordinary people. Alcohol entering the body mainly relies on the liver for metabolism. Long-term heavy drinking will increase the burden on the liver. Ethanol affects the metabolic function of liver cells and damages the liver cell membrane, causing alcoholic fatty liver disease. If things go on like this, the damaged liver cells will further fibrosis, forming alcoholic cirrhosis and eventually developing into liver cancer.
Because each person's tolerance to alcohol is different, the risk threshold associated with the amount of alcohol consumed varies greatly. Generally speaking, the daily equivalent alcohol intake for women should not exceed 15g (450ml of beer, 30ml of high-alcohol liquor), and that for men should not exceed 25g (750ml of beer, 50ml of high-altitude liquor).
Most afraid of overeating and ingesting moldy and spoiled food
As living standards improve, people's obesity rate increases year by year. At least 300 million people in our country suffer from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease to varying degrees. Overeating will cause the level of free radicals in the body to increase rapidly, which will put excessive pressure on the liver and cause a heavy burden, which will further cause liver damage and form fatty liver. In addition, daily preference for high-protein diet can also lead to abnormal liver function and reduced metabolic capacity. Some toxic substances (such as blood ammonia) accumulate too much in the human body, enter the blood circulation and reach the nervous system, affecting the function of the brain nerves, and may also induce hepatic encephalopathy.
Aflatoxin is also one of the causative factors of liver cancer, so you should pay attention to the following points: avoid the intake of aflatoxin, including not eating moldy grains or nuts, and not storing animal and vegetable oils for too long; eating pickled foods will also increase the risk of aflatoxin intake; scientifically match your diet in daily life, eat no or less fried, processed, and pickled foods; patients with fatty liver should increase exercise, and exercise options include walking, swimming, yoga, Tai Chi, etc.
The biggest fear is staying up all night and being overworked.
The main reason why staying up late harms the liver is that it affects liver detoxification. Every night from 11pm to 2am the next morning is the liver’s “detoxification and repair” time. Staying up all night will prevent the liver’s normal detoxification work. Over time, it will increase the burden on the liver and cause liver cell damage. Once liver damage is caused, it is very difficult to reverse. Therefore, people who need to work night shifts can take some measures to minimize the damage to the liver caused by staying up late, such as keeping warm in winter, reducing the body's heat consumption, and eating foods that nourish and protect the liver and have the same origin as medicine and food.
"Exercise leads to energy loss." Overexertion can also easily cause damage to the liver, destroy the body's immune status, and lead to a decrease in the body's resistance to viruses. For example, if you are infected with a certain dose of hepatitis virus, a healthy person may be fine, but an overworked person will become ill because of their low immunity. Therefore, we must learn to combine work and rest, avoid "stress", and ensure adequate sleep of 6 to 8 hours a day.
I am most afraid of taking medicine indiscriminately and not following the doctor’s instructions.
Drug-induced liver injury is generally caused by patients' improper use of medication. Among them, many elderly patients have the wrong prejudice of "taking a few more pills will make you feel better faster". After drugs enter the human body, the main place of metabolism is the liver. When the dosage is too large or the medicine is used for too long, the medicine will continue to stimulate and damage the liver, and even cause large-scale necrosis of liver cells or liver failure. Therefore, medication must be used in a standardized manner under the guidance of a doctor, and medication must not be taken indiscriminately.
The biggest fear is not caring about getting hepatitis and not accepting long-term standardized treatment.
Among the liver cancer patients in my country, about 80% have hepatitis B, and hepatitis B-cirrhosis-liver cancer is the classic "liver cancer trilogy". Many hepatitis patients are afraid of social discrimination and do not dare to see a doctor when they are sick. They put it off again and again. As a result, hepatitis is "dragged into" liver cancer.
In fact, the most effective way to prevent hepatitis B is to allow hepatitis B patients to receive long-term standardized antiviral treatment. Hepatitis B patients undergoing antiviral treatment in the early stage should choose powerful and highly drug-resistant drugs under the guidance of professional doctors to effectively reduce the incidence of cirrhosis and liver cancer. In addition, hepatitis B patients must improve their medication compliance, take medication regularly and quantitatively, and insist on follow-up and long-term treatment. (Author: Song Tianqiang, executive director of the Liver Cancer Prevention and Treatment Research Center and director of the Department of Hepatobiliary Oncology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital)
Source: Guangming Daily
