Few subjects mark the divide between conventional and natural medicine as sharply as the liver — how it is regarded, and how it is treated in both health and disease. Modern medicine detects liver disease through "liver function tests": enzymes measured in the blood that only rise once some degree of liver damage has already occurred.
Put differently, no doctor is going to tell you "your liver is looking a little sluggish — here, take this pill to protect it from damage." If anything, most pharmaceuticals contribute to liver damage themselves. Certain ones are known to affect the liver more than others: paracetamol, ibuprofen, the contraceptive pill, antibiotics, antidepressants and statins.
A herbalist approaches the same organ from the opposite direction, thinking constantly about how to improve liver function in their patients — and there are a great many herbs that do precisely that. Which raises the question: why place so much importance on the liver in the first place?
Signs of liver problems
The liver is the body's largest glandular organ and it works without pause — removing toxins from the blood, processing hormones, digesting fat, regulating blood sugar, manufacturing important proteins, and generally keeping us free of "dis-ease".
That is demanding work in a modern environment full of stress, refined carbohydrates, alcohol and environmental chemicals. Common symptoms of liver dysfunction include tiredness, nausea, heightened sensitivity to alcohol or caffeine, difficulty tolerating fatty foods, poor digestion and chronic constipation.
Holistic medicine reads a wider set of conditions as signs of liver trouble too: migraines, depression, skin and digestive disease, immunological disorders, chronic allergies and cancer.
Herbs for liver health
Anything bitter will improve liver function by prompting the production and flow of bile — a process called choleresis. Gentle choleretic herbs such as dandelion root, artichoke leaf and barberry bark therefore work as general digestive tonics, helping prevent gallstones and encouraging healthy bowel movements.
Hepatoprotective herbs — milk thistle and Bupleurum falcatum among them — support the liver's own detoxification processes and protect it against damage. Bupleurum has been shown to prevent liver cancer in patients with cirrhosis,¹ and milk thistle can protect the liver even during chemotherapy.²
Depuratives act on the liver and lymphatic system together; burdock, yellow dock and Oregon grape belong to this group. They are given where liver dysfunction is contributing to skin problems such as eczema or psoriasis.
A final class specifically boosts phase II detoxification pathways, helping the liver work through its daily burden of toxins: rosemary, turmeric, green tea and garlic.
Foods for liver health
For liver-loving foods, start with dark green leaves and the brassicas — broccoli, watercress, cauliflower, cabbage. These carry compounds called glucosinolates, which promote detoxification and act against cancer and heart disease.³
Sour foods such as lemon juice and apple cider vinegar also cleanse the liver and support digestion by increasing the flow of digestive juices. Fold these habits into a daily routine gradually and the benefits show up quickly: in energy, mood, sleep and digestion. A natural liver detox does not need to be more extreme than this: give your liver some love, and it may be the single most valuable thing you do for your health this year.
References
Cited by the original article:
Oka H, et al. (1995) Prospective study of chemoprevention of hepatocellular carcinoma with Sho-saiko-to (TJ-9). Cancer 76(5):743–9.
Ladas EJ, et al. (2010) A randomized, controlled, double-blind, pilot study of milk thistle for the treatment of hepatotoxicity in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Cancer 116(2):506–513.
Johnson I. (2002) Glucosinolates in the human diet. Bioavailability and implications for health. Phytochemistry Reviews 1:183.
