.png){kind=logo}
January is Love Your Liver Awareness Month. The liver is an organ that is responsible for over 300 functions of the body so it is important that we look after it! Love Your Liver month aims to raise awareness of risk factors for liver disease.
In the UK, liver disease is on the rise. The three main causes of this are alcohol misuse, obesity and viral hepatitis. When it’s damaged, the liver can repair itself, but only up to a point. You can take some preventative steps in order to look after your liver:
Limit alcohol intake - drinking too much alcohol over a long period of time can damage your liver and result in alcohol related liver disease or cancer.
Regular exercise - avoid a build up of fatty deposits by regularly exercising.
Maintain a healthy weight - another way to avoid build up of fatty deposits is to keep a health weight.
Eat a balanced diet - try to avoid eating too many meals that are high in calories, saturated fats, sugars and refined carbohydrates to keep your liver healthy.
Most types of liver disease do not cause any symptoms in the early stages.
Once you start to get symptoms of liver disease, your liver is already damaged and scarred. This is known as cirrhosis. Symptoms of this include:
feeling very tired and weak all the time
loss of appetite – which may lead to weight loss
loss of sex drive (libido)
yellow skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice)
itchy skin
feeling or being sick
Take a pledge to love your liver and make changes that will benefit your liver health.
Comments