Can Your Liver Rejuvenate Your Health?
As your body’s largest internal organ, your liver plays no small role in keeping you healthy. Not only is it critical to proper protein synthesis and healthy digestion, but it’s also the hub of your body’s natural detoxification system—and when your liver is working at its peak, everything from your energy and cholesterol levels to your weight and your complexion will reap the benefits.
But when it’s not? Well… you might be surprised by just how much trouble a sluggish liver can actually cause.
Whether it’s due to less-than-optimal bile flow or an overload of environmental pollutants and free radicals, suboptimal liver function can be a drag on your entire system—leaving you tired, in need of detoxification, maybe even overweight and oversensitive to any number of dietary or chemical insults. So if your body just isn’t feeling up to snuff, launching a liver-supporting supplement regimen could be one of the smartest steps to take.
N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), for example, can help to boost production of the crucial liver-supporting antioxidant glutathione—while trimethylglycine acts as a conjugating agent in the second phase of your body’s detoxification process, during which unwanted chemicals are made water-soluble so that they will have less of an impact on your body and will be easier to excrete via urine or bowel movements.1-3 Research suggests that the botanical Scutellaria baicalensis, on the other hand, can enhance liver health by encouraging healthy cell turnover in this organ.4
No discussion of liver-supporting regimens would be complete without mention of silymarin—an active constituent of milk thistle that can help to replenish your liver’s stores of glutathione and guard against future depletion.5-6 Meanwhile, milk thistle offers the additional benefit of stimulating the production of bile, which plays an essential role in emulsifying and solubilizing certain chemicals allowing for efficient excretion.7 Artichoke plays a similar role, with a number of studies demonstrating this botanical’s ability to support ample bile flow—which is why you’ll find it combined with all of the ingredients above in CP’s exclusive daily liver formula, Liver Support Formula™.8
Complementing this formula with an even wider spectrum of nutrients that assist with bile production—such as dandelion root, beet root, phosphatidylcholine, taurine, betaine, inositol, pancreatic lipase, alpha-lipoic acid, vitamin C and magnesium, in addition to silymarin—can also help to ease the burden shouldered by an overworked liver. In combination, these nutrients can help to neutralize the contents of your small intestine, facilitating the release of key digestive enzymes. The additional bile release will also prepare dietary fats and fat-soluble nutrients for absorption, while protecting the intestinal cells and supporting friendly flora found in your GI tract—making this regimen a vital form of natural support for more than just your liver.9-11
You can find all of the bile-stimulating ingredients above featured in the daily formula Gallbladder Formula, available from Complementary Prescriptions®.
References:
1. Banalocha M. Therapeutic potential of N-acetylcysteine in age-related mitochondrial neurodegenerative diseases. Med Hypoth. 2001;56:472-77.
2. Maritim AC, Sanders RA, Watkins JB. Effects of alpha-lipoic acid on biomarkers of oxidative stress in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. J Nutr Biochem. 2003 May;14(5):288-94.
3. Anonymous. Betaine: Monograph. Alternative Medicine Review 2003;8(2):193-196.
4. Zhao Y, Li H, Gao Z, Gong Y, Xu H. Effects of flavonoids extracted from Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi on hemin-nitrite-H2O2 induced liver injury. Eur J Pharmacol. 2006 Apr 24;536(1-2):192-9.
5. Campos R, Garido A, Guerra R, et al. Silybin dihemisuccinate protects against glutathione depletion and lipid peroxidation induced by acetaminophen on rat liver. Planta Med. 1989;55:417-419.
6. Valenzuela A, Aspillaga M, Vial S, Guerra R. Selectivity of silymarin on the increase of the glutathione content in different tissues of the rat. Planta Med. 1989;55(5):420-2.
7. Loguercio C, Federico A, Trappoliere M, et al. The effect of a silybin-vitamin e-phospholipid complex on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: a pilot study. Dig Dis Sci. 2007;52(9):2387-95.
8. Kraft K. Artichoke leaf extract- recent findings reflecting effects on lipid metabolism, liver and gastrointestinal tracts. Phytomedicine. 1997;4:369-78.
9. Wells CL, Jechorek RP, Erlandsen SL. Inhibitory effects of bile on bacterial invasion of enterocytes: possible mechanism for increased translocation associated with obstructive jaundice. Crit Care Med. 1995;23(2):301-307.
10. Graham DY, Osato MS. H. pylori in the pathogenesis of duodenal ulcer: interaction between duodenal acid load, bile, and H. pylori. Am J Gastroenterol. 2000;95:329-336.
11. Worku ML, Karim QN, Spencer J, Sidebotham RL. Chemotactic response of Helicobacter pylori to human plasma and bile. J Med Microbiol. 2004;53(Pt 8):807-811.
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