What are the 5 functions of the liver? You might think the liver filters your blood to keep you healthy, but that's just scratching the surface. The liver has over 500 different functions, as it acts as your body's largest internal chemical factory, breaking down and regulating everything from drugs and alcohol to fats and proteins. Read on to learn about 5 fantastic liver functions you probably didn't know about before.
1) The liver produces bile
The liver has many functions, but one of
its most important roles is to produce bile. Bile is a liquid that helps with
digestion, consisting of water, salts, and bile acids. The liver produces
bile by breaking down cholesterol and other fats in your bloodstream.
Once the bile is made, it travels from your liver through your intestines, where it helps break down food and absorb nutrients. Your body also uses bile
to regulate blood pressure, which may be why people with chronic liver disease
often have high blood pressure.
The liver plays a vital role in the immune system: The immune system is responsible for fighting off foreign invaders like bacteria or viruses that try to enter your body. When something foreign invades our bodies, the immune system releases chemicals called antibodies into our bloodstream to fight off these invaders. These antibodies originate from cells found in our livers called B-cells or plasma cells. Plasma cells are part of our humoral immunity (in contrast to cellular immunity). Our humoral immunity can be compromised when we have chronic liver disease because our livers don't have enough cells to produce these antibodies! The liver removes toxins from the body:
One of the reasons your body needs a healthy functioning liver is because it's responsible for eliminating toxins. Toxins can come from medicines you take, pollutants in the air or water, or even alcohol consumption. Not only does this help keep toxins out of your organs, such as your heart and brain, but it also helps keep them out of breast milk. Your liver also regulates electrolytes:
Besides removing toxic substances from our bodies, the liver plays another crucial role - regulating electrolytes such as potassium and sodium. Electrolytes play an essential role in keeping bodily fluids balanced within a normal range so you don't experience any severe side effects due to excessive fluid build-up around your organs. Extreme fluid build-up can cause breathing difficulties and congestive heart failure. The liver regulates electrolyte levels by secreting enzymes to break down proteins, sugars, and carbohydrates into usable energy sources such as amino acids, glucose, glycogen, etc.,
which then release potassium or sodium ions according to their chemical properties. If the levels get too high in your bloodstream, then potassium will travel back into your cells; if the levels are low, sodium will move around.
2) The liver stores glycogen
One function of the liver is to store glycogen, a carbohydrate that provides energy to cells. Glycogen can be stored in your muscles or your liver when needed. When you eat something, your digestive system breaks down glycogen into glucose and other nutrients, which are absorbed into your bloodstream. This is how glucose gets around in the body! Glucose moves from one cell to another through special membrane channels (think of them as pores) called GLUT4 proteins. Once inside a cell, insulin will tell GLUT4 where to open up and let the glucose come out to turn it into energy. What else? The liver produces bile:
The liver produces bile acids, which help digest fats, absorb fat-soluble vitamins such as A, D, E, and K, and cholesterol, so they don't build up in your arteries. Bile also helps remove bilirubin (a substance made by old red blood cells) from your bloodstream, so these bad guys don't hang around long enough to do any damage. What are the 5 functions of the liver?
1. Producing bile
2. Storage of glycogen
3. Removal of bilirubin
4. Removal of toxic substances
5. Production of clotting factors:
Your liver removes harmful things like toxins and makes stuff that's good for you, like clotting factors. These compounds have several uses, including helping stop bleeding after an injury and forming clots to prevent excessive bleeding during surgery. Besides producing coagulation factor V (needed for initiating the coagulation cascade), other things produced include albumin, prothrombin, and fibrinogen. Prothrombin converts to thrombin which acts as a powerful clotting agent because it acts on fibrinogen, converting this protein from inactive fibrin monomer into active fibrin polymer strands (woven fabric). Clot formation is an essential process because uncontrolled bleeding can lead to death.
3) The liver detoxifies the blood
The liver is your body's largest organ responsible for many functions. One of its many jobs is to
detoxify the blood. It does this by removing toxins and waste products from
your bloodstream. It has two specific enzymes that break
down these chemicals: phase one (oxidation) and phase two (conjugation). These
enzymes transform harmful substances into things that are less toxic or even
completely non-harmful, so they can be excreted from the body. They also form glucuronic acid and sulfate, natural buffers
against acids.
Some types of chemical reactions in the liver happen when needed: When we consume certain foods, some chemical reactions may be necessary to process them properly. For example, when we eat sugar, it needs to go through some type of reaction in our body before we can use it for energy;
otherwise, the sugar would build up in our bloodstreams
instead of being broken down for energy production. Glucose will enter your
cells with assistance from insulin, but if you don't have enough insulin, fats will provide some glucose too. The liver regulates blood
pressure and controls cholesterol levels:
When the cholesterol levels get too high,
the liver produces bile acids which help remove excess
cholesterol from the body. If those levels get too low, the body will start
making more cholesterol.
It breaks down proteins in food for amino acids: Protein is an essential building block for all living organisms, making up about 15% of your daily diet. Your body needs protein to function correctly because it provides everything from muscle mass to DNA repair material! But once you're done digesting protein, what happens next?
Enter
stage left - your liver! It breaks down those proteins into
amino acids, which can be used by other parts of your body, like muscles or hair
follicles. It stores energy in glycogen: Glycogen is carbs stored away for later use. And where does it hold them? Yup, your
liver! All those carbs you consume during a typical day turn into glycogen, keeping all your vital organs functioning optimally and helping produce ketones to
feed your brain.
It helps maintain healthy red blood cells: Just like any other cell in the human body, red blood cells need supplies like hemoglobin to carry oxygen throughout your body. The iron within hemoglobin allows the RBCs to bind oxygen molecules and release carbon dioxide so they can live and deliver oxygen where needed most.
4) The liver synthesizes proteins
The liver is a remarkable organ. It performs
five essential functions: detoxification, production of proteins, production of
biochemicals, storage, and regulation. The liver also regulates blood volume and
pressure by producing proteins sent to other body organs. Knowing what 5 functions your liver has is critical so you can take care of it
properly! Here are six more impressive parts of the liver that you may not
have known about:
1. Making hormones such as estrogen and
testosterone
2. Burning fat
3. Producing bile, which helps digest food
4. Filtering out toxins from alcohol or
drugs
5. Breaking down hemoglobin (an iron-containing molecule inside red blood cells)
into bilirubin allows us to use oxygen efficiently
6. Removing old and damaged red blood cells
7. Producing energy
8. Preventing some cancers
9. Producing essential fatty acids
10. Suppressing infections
11. Regenerating damaged tissues
12. Processing cholesterol
13. Helping maintain healthy skin
14. Maintaining a steady temperature
15. Regulating specific chemical reactions
16. Helping with sugar levels
5) The liver regulates the metabolism
The liver performs a range of functions that help maintain human life. The liver regulates metabolism, synthesizes proteins, and detoxifies the blood. The liver also produces bile to aid digestion and makes essential clotting factors for blood coagulation. It is estimated that about one-fifth of an adult's total weight is from their liver. The liver is the body's chemical factory because it processes (metabolizes) most of the chemicals absorbed by our intestines (digestive system).
The production of cholesterol and other fats is regulated by the liver. It also removes some substances from our blood, such as bilirubin, a pigment made when hemoglobin breaks down; this substance turns our skin yellow if left unchecked. There are five primary functions of the liver: to produce bile; regulate metabolism; produce proteins like albumin and clotting factors; detoxify (remove harmful substances) substances in the bloodstream like alcohol or drugs; store nutrients like iron or vitamin A; use stored sugar as fuel when glucose levels are low; filter toxins out of your blood and remove them through urination or sweat.
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