Poor liver health may be one piece of the puzzle impacting your overall health and wellbeing by presenting itself in various symptoms such as chronic fatigue, skin issues such as acne, weight loss, and muscle mass loss. Working with a functional practitioner will help to address the root causes of your symptoms.

The Role Of The Liver

The liver, which is the largest organ in the human body weighing around 3 pounds, is roughly the size of a football located on the right side of your abdomen just under the ribcage. The liver is responsible for detoxification and excretion of harmful substances such as drugs, alcohol, and environmental toxins, synthesizing key proteins, producing bile to help the breakdown of fats, and macronutrient/micronutrient metabolism. It is one of your bodies main detoxification organs along with your kidneys. Normally your liver and kidneys act as the main detoxification organs in the body. However, due to the increased chronic exposure of environmental toxins, from air and water pollution to household and skincare products, it is necessary to help in assisting these organs to prevent impaired detoxification.

This can look like supporting these organs with the necessary nutrients from foods, taking supplements to support liver health such as NAC or Liposomal Glutathione, weekly sauna sessions to help excrete heavy metals such as mercury and lead, consuming broccoli sprouts to aid in excreting the carcinogen benzene found in car exhaust fumes that your body can absorb through inhalation, daily aerobic sessions to induce sweat release and promote blood circulation, and finally but most importantly improving your nervous system health using the tools listed here to manage stress levels as chronic stress is linked to most chronic health conditions.

Conditions Associated With Poor Liver Health

• Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a condition that is increasing due to the rapid rise in obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and insulin resistance.
• Cirrhosis or end-stage liver disease
• Hepatitis: inflammation of the liver
• Alcoholic Liver Disease (ALD): liver damage cause by excessive alcohol intake

Common Symptoms Of Poor Liver Health

• Acne or skin issues related to impaired detoxification of the liver (think congested liver!)
• Chronic fatigue
• Weight loss
• Muscle mass loss
• N/V
• Jaundice or yellowing of the skin and eyes

Root Causes Of Poor Liver Health

• Excessive alcohol intake
• Excessive refined sugar intake

Labs To Assess

A Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP) will help assess liver health that typically includes various liver enzymes such as ALP, ALT, AST, as well as bilirubin.

Labs to look at for liver function and health:

• Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST): liver enzyme that is typically elevated with liver damage.
• Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT): liver enzyme that is typically elevated with liver damage.
• Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP): liver enzyme that is typically elevated with liver damage.
• Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGTP)
• Bilirubin (total)

Labs To Assess

Standard lab ranges represent the average population and does not necessarily refer to the optimal level to remain at the highest level of health. Optimal ranges are obtained from clinical studies and limited research so it may vary here and there.

Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST):

• conventional lab range: 8.0-40.0 U/L
• optimal lab range: 10.0-30.0 U/L

Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT):

• conventional lab range: 6.0-32.0 U/L
• optimal lab range: 10.0-26.0 U/L

Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP):

• conventional lab range: 35.0-117.0 U/L
• optimal lab range: 70.0-100.0 U/L

Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGTP):

• conventional lab range: 1-70 U/L
• optimal lab range: 10.0-30.0 U/L

Bilirubin (total):

• conventional lab range: 0.1-1.2 mg/dL
• optimal lab range: 0.1-0.9 mg/dL

What To Include or Limit In Your Diet

Include:

• Include omega-3 rich foods
• Include polyphenol rich foods
• Include antioxidant rich foods

Limit:

• Remove or reduce refined sugars such as white sugar, brown sugar, high fructose corn syrup, cane sugar, corn syrup, etc
• Remove or reduce refined grains such as white processed bread, white rice, white pasta made with refined flour, pastries made with refined white flour and refined sugar, etc
• Limit or avoid alcohol

Recommended Probiotic Strains

Many probiotics can promote the excretion of heavy metals and slow down liver damage.

• Lactobacillus strains such as L. acidophilus and L. rhamnosus
• Bifidobacterium strains
• Saccharomyces boulardii or S. boulardii
• Akkermansia muciniphila or A. muciniphila

Because of the relationship between the liver and gut axis, dysbiosis or imbalance of intestinal flora can trigger many chronic liver diseases such as chronic hepatitis B (CHB), chronic hepatitis C (CHC), alcoholic liver disease (ALD), NAFLD, NASH, development of cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Probiotics have therapeutic effects on these chronic liver diseases by regulating intestinal flora, inhibiting bacterial adhesion, enhancing mucosal barrier function, and secreting bioactive metabolites.¹

Adding various or specific probiotic strains to ferment in yogurt allows them to multiply and digest easier as well survive intestinal transit ensuring optimal nutrition. I have the recipe linked here!

Herbs & Adaptogens That Support Liver Health

Adaptogens are herbs that help the body adapt to stress, regulate cortisol levels, maintain a healthy nervous system, promote relaxation leading to overall health and wellbeing. Consuming adaptogenic herbs may help support optimal liver functioning and health

• Green tea (due to the EGCG compound): helpful in the treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). In a 2016 study, consumption of green tea extract supplementation showed significant reductions in ALT and AST levels after a 12 week period. According to the findings of the study, green tea extract supplementation decreased liver enzymes in patients with NAFLD.²
• Garlic (due to allicin compound): a 2020 study showed significant reductions in weight and serum ALT, AST, HbA1C, total cholesterol, and LDL-cholesterol with the garlic intake compared to placebo.³

Supplements

Discuss supplements with your dietitian to determine which will be the best fit for you. Always consult your healthcare provider prior to beginning a new supplement. 

Targeted Supplements to help support overall liver health:

• N-acetyl cysteine (NAC): precursor to glutathione and acts as an antioxidant that works to reduce oxidative stress and detoxify the liver.
• Liposomal Glutathione: helps detoxify the liver and protects liver cells from damage and oxidative stress.
• Glycine: improves liver function.
• Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10): significantly improves circulating ALT, AST, and GGT levels.

Make sure to order from a high quality and third party tested brand instead of purchasing from Amazon where practically anyone can sell anything without any rigorous testing. To make it easier for you, you may order from my supplement dispensary below through Fullscript’s catalog where each brand and product meets strict top quality standards. You can learn more about third party testing here.

My supplement dispensary is linked here (with a 30% off discount!) and you do not need to be a client to place an order.

Stress Management

Stress management tools are listed here that will help support liver health.

Sleep

Sleep is essential for healthy liver functioning and health: aim for 7-9 hours of quality, deep sleep.

References

References:

1. Lin Cheng, Jianyou Shi, Haoyuan Peng, Rongsheng Tong, Yonghe Hu, Dongke Yu,
   Probiotics and liver fibrosis: An evidence-based review of the latest research,
   Journal of Functional Foods, Volume 109, 2023, 105773, ISSN 1756-4646, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2023.105773. ↩︎
2. Pezeshki A, Safi S, Feizi A, Askari G, Karami F. The Effect of Green Tea Extract Supplementation on Liver Enzymes in Patients with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Int J Prev Med. 2016 Feb 1;7:28. doi: 10.4103/2008-7802.173051. PMID: 26955458; PMCID: PMC4763469. ↩︎
3. Soleimani D, Paknahad Z, Rouhani MH. Therapeutic Effects of Garlic on Hepatic Steatosis in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Patients: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes. 2020 Jul 7;13:2389-2397. doi: 10.2147/DMSO.S254555. PMID: 32753923; PMCID: PMC7354004. ↩︎