Your diet and your liver are inextricably linked. Your liver is a crucial part of your digestive process, producing bile that aids in the breakdown of foods, and changing amino acids into glucose -- the brain's nutritional source of energy. Your liver also aids in filtering out the harmful junk that accumulates in your blood, including alcohol and toxins. Just as your liver can affect your ability to metabolize foods, the foods you eat can affect your liver in damaging ways when they are consumed in excessive amounts.
Excessively High Protein
High protein diets that restrict carbohydrate consumption may have damaging health effects if adhered to for a prolonged amount of time, according to Mayo Clinic nutritionist Katherine Zeratsky. Liver problems are just one of the possible negative consequence of such a regimen. Zeratsky explains that the consumption of extreme quantities of protein overtaxes the liver by placing an extra burden on its work load. The liver has to eliminate the waste products that form when protein is digested. When these waste products are created in higher than normal quantities, liver problems can result.
In examining the correlation between diet and liver disease, Dr. George Ioannou of the Division of Gastroenterology at the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle found that people with high protein diets were at greater risk of being hospitalized or dying from cirrhosis or liver cancer. Ioannou's work was published in the July 2009 issue of the journal "Hepatology."
High Fructose Corn Syrup
If you've been diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD, you may want to cut back on your soda consumption. The consumption of carbonated beverages sweetened with high fructose corn syrup is strongly linked to the rise in obesity and diabetes in the United States as well as liver disease.
According to Dr. Manal F. Abdelmalek of the Duke University Department Medical Center, fructose consumption is higher in those with NAFLD, and the consumption of fructose is linked to fibrosis in the livers of NAFLD patients. People over the age of 48 who consume fructose daily have an increased risk of liver inflammation. Abdelmalek suggests that removing high fructose corn syrup from your diet is an easily achievable method of slowing the progression of NAFLD.
Alcohol
If you want to argue semantics, it's a beverage rather than a food, but alcohol merits a mention in any responsible discussion of diet and liver damage. As with other foods, alcohol is safe in small doses, but long-term alcohol abuse will damage your liver. Alcoholic liver disease is a sad reality for many alcoholics, and results in excessive thirst, jaundice, mental confusion, fatigue and fever, among other symptoms. Once cirrhosis sets in, the damage is irreversible, and a liver transplant may be your only option, according to MedlinePlus.
References
- MayoClinic.com: High-Protein Diets: Are They Safe?
- "Hepatology;" Increased Fructose Consumption Is Associated with Fibrosis Severity in Patients with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; Manal F. Abdelmalek et al; June 2010
- Medline Plus: Alcoholic Liver Disease
- "Hepatology;" Association Between Dietary Nutrient Composition and the Incidence of Cirrhosis or Liver Cancer in the United States Population
- Medical News Today: Examining Dietary Influences Of Liver Disease
