This report is written for people who had high scores on the Liver/Gallbladder portion of our Health Questionnaire.

High scores on this part of the questionnaire may mean there are issues with the liver, gallbladder or toxicity. Of course the questionnaire and this report are not intended to diagnose or treat disease. This is just a vehicle to help educate you about your body. All of your health issues should be discussed with your physician. The liver has over 500 known functions. It is involved with digestion, the endocrine system, controlling blood sugar, and protein and fat metabolism.

Chemical exposure in this part of the 20th century is unprecedented in history. The average American consumes 10 pounds of chemical food additives each year. Add to that the chemical burden caused by food sprayed with pesticides and from air and water pollution, you can see that our chemical burden is considerable. The liver may well be handling these burdens, but if there are a lot of toxins, or a highly refined diet, the bile becomes thick and the liver becomes congested.

The body has systems designed to eliminate waste and to detoxify poisons. The liver chemically converts toxins to be easily eliminated by the kidneys. Detoxification is an ongoing process. The sheer volume of chemicals in the environment and in the diet has caused many people to reach their threshold of tolerance, which has adversely affected their health.

When the body is burdened with more chemicals than it can efficiently detoxify, chronic health problems can occur. Problems like allergies, skin problems, digestive problems, headaches, fatigue, joint pain and a variety of ailments can be caused by chemical exposure. Theron Randolph, MD, and early researcher of chronic allergies, was convinced that the increased incidence of allergies and other chronic health problems in the latter half of the 20th century is due to the amount of chemicals we are exposed to on a day-to-day basis.

Since the liver is involved with so many of the body’s functions, it can be at the root of many health problems. Problems as diverse as PMS, fatigue, insomnia, arthritis and migraine headache may respond to proper liver support. More important that treating any current symptoms, proper liver function is necessary to ensure good health and an absence of chronic health problems later in life.

Causes:

The main culprits in liver problems, as with so many other chronic health problems are: white, refined and processed foods, chemical additives, pollution and heavy metal toxicity. Viruses from old hepatitis infections or current, chronic hepatitis C also undermine the health of the liver. Alcohol abuse (especially when drinking is followed up with the use of pain relievers) can, of course, damage the liver.