Too much sugar isn’t just bad for your teeth. It can harm your liver too. The organ uses one type of sugar, called fructose, to make fat. Too much refined sugar and high-fructose corn syrup causes a fatty buildup that can lead to liver disease. Some studies show that sugar can be as damaging to the liver as alcohol, even if you’re not overweight. It’s one more reason to limit foods with added sugars, such as soda, pastries, and candy.
Some habits that destroy your liver are pretty obvious, while others are downright subtle regarding their detrimental effects. Therefore, without even realizing it, you might be destroying your liver one tissue portion at a time.
Nevertheless, understanding how certain behaviors and everyday agendas ruin your liver’s health is a critical first step for prevention. Here are seven common habits that may increase the risks for liver damage.
1. Drinking Less Water
Water helps to detoxify the body. Dehydration affects the body as our bodies are made of 75% of water. The liver needs ample amounts of fluids to stay efficient and drinking less than the requisite amount will lead to liver problems. Water consumption helps the liver to maintain its reserves and dehydration leads to an increased risk of illness.
2. Frequent Dining Out.
Eating out regularly can harm your liver’s health. Aside from liver disease caused by overconsumption of alcohol, other factors can also cause detrimental effects in your liver. This condition is collectively known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NFLD).
When it comes to dietary patterns, eating out is considered a factor in the drastic increase in food volumes over the years. Buffets with all-you-can-eat style, monster food challenges, and other trends that revolve around large portions of food increased the risk of Americans for liver disease.
As food sizes and servings increase, the caloric intake also goes up. Excessive caloric intake leads to obesity which is directly linked to liver disease.
3. Practising Unsafe Sex.
Those who indulge in unsafe sex practices stand at a higher risk of liver damage than their counterparts who practice safe sex. The biggest culprit is hepatitis– a potentially fatal liver disease that is contracted sexually. To protect your liver, use condoms and latex protection and always practice safe sex whether you have steady or multiple partners.
4. Cigarette Smoking.
Not just lung cancer, but even liver cancer is related to smoking. Smoke inhaled because of tobacco burning affects the liver. The oxidative stress that cigarette smoke causes are immense and it pressurizes the liver to detoxify the blood. This releases harmful chemicals in the body and ultimately leads to liver cancer.
5. Irregular Eating Schedules.
The strong association between fatty liver disease and obesity means that irregular eating patterns can destroy your liver if interventions are not taken.
Eating too late at night, skipping breakfast, and eating too fast are some of the dietary habits that can lead to obesity; and, by extension, liver damage.
Nighttime eating, which typically occurs right before bedtime, can have adverse effects on your health. One example is Night Eating Syndrome (NES), characterized by excessive caloric intake when eating after dinnertime.
6. Alcohol Consumption
You needn’t drink excessive amounts of alcohol to see its damaging effects on the body. Each body has a different reaction and threshold to alcohol and what may be overuse for one person could cause no reaction in the other. A lot of it depends on who much inflammation is already present and how overworked the liver already is. An excessive amount of inflammation can initiate cirrhosis and liver diseases. It is best to drink in moderation and to limit the frequency of alcohol consumption.
7. Staying Indoors Often.
Getting fresh air and enough sunlight has plenty of benefits. For one, it protects your liver from severe damage. Sufficient sunlight exposure triggers the production of vitamin D.
Studiesfound that Vitamin D deficiency contributes to hepatic disease.However, research is still going to firmly establish whether the link between vitamin d and liver disease is either causation or correlation.
Although there has been evidence on how low vitamin D levels lead to NAFLD, more data is required to create a strong case.
Nonetheless, in the caseof non-cholesteric liver disease, vitamin D deficiency contributes to the low production of bile.
If you cannot go outside for your daily dose of sunlight, it is best to consult your doctor about alternative ways of stimulating vitamin D production. Some of the common options include taking dietary supplements and eating vitamin-d rich foods.
In a Nutshell.
Your liver plays a critical role that could draw the line between life or death. So if you are making these ten habits regularly, it’s about time to shift to healthy alternatives.
Forget about alcoholic drinks, unhealthy eating habits, smoking, unsupervised drug use, and unprotected sex.
Think about your liver. Embody healthy habits and make sure to evaluate your liver’s health.
