The liver is responsible for many different functions in the body. Besides helping to eliminate toxins, the liver also helps absorb and distribute nutrients. Following a healthy diet and lifestyle not only helps support liver integrity and function but also benefits overall health. While it's always most beneficial to obtain a variety of vitamins and minerals from wholesome foods, supplementing your diet with certain vitamins provides extra benefits to the liver.
Thiamine or Vitamin B1
One task of thiamine is to help the body repair and grow tissue. This is beneficial to the liver because it is the only organ that can re-grow itself. Thiamine is key to overall liver health and is noticeably absent in severe alcoholics and those with a poor diet, disease and exhaustion, according to the Vitamins and Health Supplements Guide.
Food sources for thiamine include whole-grain products, nuts, seeds, milk, eggs, meat/liver, green, leafy vegetables, kidney beans and yeast, according to the Vitamins and Minerals Encyclopedia. Thiamine is a water-soluble vitamin, so take a thiamine/vitamin B1 daily supplement to ensure you are not thiamine deficient. Check with your health care provider for recommended dosages.
Vitamin B12
According to some health officials, vitamin B12 can help reduce jaundice, anorexia and other conditions or diseases related to the liver, says DoctorYourself.com. B12 is also used to treat viral hepatitis. Vitamin B12 is stored in the liver and helps form red blood cells and aids in maintaining the nervous system, according to Vitamins and Health Supplements Guide.
Food sources of vitamin B12 include meat, liver, dairy products, eggs and fish. Vitamin B12 stays in the body longer than some other B vitamins, according to the Vitamin and Mineral Encyclopedia (see ref # 2).
Vitamin B-complex
Taking a B-complex vitamin might benefit liver health, but there's some debate over the liver benefits of all of the B vitamins. For example, large dosages of niacin, or B3, can cause liver damage, according to the Vitamins and Health Supplements Guide. Ask your health care provider about the risk of taking other B vitamins or B complex for liver health.
Vitamin C
According to University of Michigan Medical School researcher Vincent Zannoni, the antioxidant vitamin C guards the liver by helping to thwart cirrhosis and fatty buildup, says DoctorYourself.com. It may also help eliminate jaundice, says the site. Vegetable sources for vitamin C include green peppers, broccoli, parsley, Brussels sprouts, potatoes and cabbage. Fruit sources for vitamin C include rose hips--berries found under rosebud petals, acerola cherries and citrus fruits, according to the Vitamin and Mineral Encyclopedia. Typically, it's okay to take extra amounts of vitamin C supplements; however, check with your health care professional before adding any vitamin supplements to your diet.
Vitamin E
Besides its potent antioxidant effects, vitamin E helps fight liver illness such as fatty liver disease, which is the accumulation of fat in the liver. Fatty liver disease is an illness connected to obesity that can lead to cirrhosis and liver damage, according to ScienceNews. While vitamin E lessens "liver inflammation, fat accumulation and the presence of dying 'ballooning cells' that appear in fatty liver tissue," it's not FDA approved as a cure, adds ScienceNews. Nevertheless, vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that thwarts free radicals and keeps them from damaging cells.
Find vitamin E in grain seed germ in concentrated forms and in whole-grain foods. It's also abundant in healthy vegetable oils, such as safflower and soybean oil; nuts and especially peanut butter; fish; and green and leafy vegetables, according to the Vitamins and Health Supplements Guide.
References
- Vitamins and Health Supplements Guide
- "Vitamin and Mineral Encyclopedia"; Frank Cawood; 1997
- DoctorYourself.com: There Must Be Fifteen Ways To Love Your Liver
- ScienceNews: Vitamin E, Diabetes Drug May Reverse Fatty Liver Disease
