The liver is a unique organ, without which a person can not live. And some facts about his work can simply amaze.
1. The liver is a chemical laboratory.
Unlike other internal organs, which are responsible for just a few processes, or even one, the liver has taken on about five hundred functions. It works like a huge filter, passing blood through itself - it removes toxins, regulates the production of bile, the level of fats and carbohydrates in the body. Its immediate role is noted in the formation of half of all human lymph and urea. With a lack of energy, it's our battery or a spare generator, since it contains glycogen, which under certain conditions turns into glucose, supporting the vital forces of the body. And it's all just its main functions.
2. The liver is the largest internal organ.
Of course, performing such a front of work, the liver simply must have a good size to cope with everything. And if you take the entire human body, then the liver is inferior only to the skin by weight.
3. The liver, in comparison with an equivalent in size part of the muscles, consumes oxygen almost 10 times more.
And this is not surprising, because the functionality of the liver is much higher than the muscle, and besides, it is 70% water.
4. The main enemy of the liver is alcohol.
In 25% of all diseases of this body alcohol is guilty. It is possible to say with certainty that every second Russian citizen has problems with the liver. After all, in a day the liver of a healthy eighty-kilogram man can process about 80 grams of pure alcohol, which is about 5 liters of beer. Favorable and active time of processing of alcohol by the liver is considered from 18:00 to 20:00.
5. The fruit and vegetable most useful for the liver is an apple and a beetroot.
Contained in apples, pectins actively help the liver to get rid of excess cholesterol. A beet cleanses the liver due to the priceless betaine.
6. The liver never hurts.
When a person at a doctor's appointment complains of pain in the liver, this is actually not the case. With hepatic diseases, only the envelope and neighboring organs can hurt, the liver itself does not have nerve receptors, so the feeling of pain is alien to it. Most often, its destruction is "quiet", and "screaming" for help can only analyze what else needs to be done. For this reason, people live with a sick liver for years, but they do not know it.
7. Within an hour the liver of an adult man drives through himself nearly 100 liters of blood.
And in a day this figure can exceed a ton.
8. The liver weighs half the weight of an eight-week embryo.
When the embryo is at the eighth week of development, its liver is huge and takes up 50% of the total weight.
9. In ancient times, the liver was called the gate of the spirit.
Our ancestors believed that if you eat the liver of a bear or a lion (depending on the geographical location), then you can find its strength of spirit and courage. In ancient Greece, this body was valued more than the heart, so the Greeks in those days made the offer of "hand and liver." And it's not for nothing that the eagle was pecking this organ from Prometheus ...
10. One of the first to suffer from stress is the liver.
If we are nervous, we express negative emotions, then negative influences are reflected in the liver and are especially amplified if they are restrained and experienced "inside ourselves". Therefore, it is very important to learn self-control, forgiveness and not wish anyone evil.
11. The liver is our own waste-processing plant.
Today, we consume too many harmful foods and drinks, and if it were not for the liver, our body has long been poisoned with all this debris and toxins, and so it processes and removes them.
12. The liver cells are self-restored.
The liver has a rare ability - self-healing. If her living tissue remains at 25%, she will be able to regenerate and regain her former size, although this will take a long time.