Liver Health

The liver is our largest internal organ (the skin is technically the largest organ) in our bodies. The importance of a healthy liver cannot be overemphasized. Americans have very unhealthy livers, with epidemic rates of liver disease, including cancer, hepatitis, cirrhosis, and fatty liver (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) among other conditions. It is vital to maintain the health of your liver thru-out life, since this is our largest internal organ.

The liver has two enemies: 1) fats, and that includes vegetable oils, and 2) alcohol and drugs. Americans eat a 42% fat calorie diet, and most all of these fats are saturated animal fats. Saturated fats harm our bodies the most. Americans drink humongous amounts of alcohol, as do all European countries. We consume a lot of caffeine in coffee and energy drinks. We also eat incredible amounts of food preservatives, colorings, additives, and other chemicals. Older Americans take more prescription drugs than anyone else on the face of the earth. These drugs, especially the ubiquitous (they’re everywhere) cholesterol lowering ones, absolutely turn your liver into pudding! The liver is simply destroyed by most all of these poisons. Read the Most Medicated Nation article.

The real road to healthy liver function is to eat a low-fat, high-fiber, low-calorie, low-protein diet based on whole grains, beans, green and yellow vegetables, seafood, fruits, soups, and salads. Stop eating red meat, poultry, and eggs. Take dairy of any kind completely out of your life, including low-fat and no-fat dairy products. Keep your fat intake under 20%, and from vegetable, not animal, sources. Under 20% is the magic number. 10% is the ideal. Read my book Macrobiotics for Everyone.

Don’t take Rx drugs unless you have an emergency situation, such as an infection or severe pain where you take them temporarily. Or type 1 diabetics. Bioidentical prescription hormones such as testosterone, T3, and T4 are fine. If you drink alcohol, put an end to it. Limit any recreational drug use to once a week. Or put an end to that, too. The ideal is no bad habits at all. Why have any bad habits at all? You just don't need them.

Milk thistle is a proven liver rejuvenator, but is exogenous  (not found in common food). It can only be used for about six months, and then it is useless. Take two caps a day for six months. The same is true for other liver tonics such as barberry, fringe tree, and golden seal root (these all contain berberine). You can also take two caps of 200:1 aloe vera for six months.

TMG, however, is endogenous and occurs naturally in your body. This is an amazing natural supplement that will help rejuvenate your liver in just six months. Trimethylglycine aka betaine is well clinically documented in real people. You simply take 3 grams (6 X 500 mg) of TMG a day for about six months, and you will get very dramatic results. Take 3 capsules AM and 3 capsules PM. Yes, this is for healthy people, too. If you have any kind of liver condition, do this for an entire year. TMG is very safe, inexpensive, found naturally in our food (but only about a gram a day), and in our bodies. TMG also lowers homocysteine levels dramatically. Homocysteine is a major inflammation marker for heart and artery disease- the biggest killer of all worldwide. Later, you can take 1 gram (2 X 500) daily as maintenance to help keep homocysteine levels down. You can take 1 gram for the rest of your life as part of your supplement program. Yes, you can do the three gram program, say, every five years if you want. This is one program you can repeat as you age, since TMG is endogenous. Buy it on eBay.

Where’s the published proof for TMG on real people? Lots of it. The Journal of Nutrition published a study done in the Netherlands. Homocysteine fell dramatically and immediately. Liver function improved greatly (the Dutch drink even more than we do), and diastolic blood pressure fell as well. The same results were found at the University of Kuopio in Finland (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition) as well as Sheffield Children’s Hospital in England (British Journ-al of Clinical Pharmacology). At Heinrich-Heine University in Germany (British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology) both healthy people, and those with severe hyper-homocysteine con­­­­­­­­ditions, benefited dramatically as proven by SGPT and SGOT (liver enzymes) testing. An article in the American Journal of Physiology Gastrointestinal Liver Physiology (v. 299, 2010) showed benefits for NAFL, homocysteine and insulin resistance.

At the famous Mayo Clinic (Expert Opinion in Pharmacotherapy) people with non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) were given TMG with impressive results. This is intimately related to the epidemic of diabetes and other blood sugar problems we now suffer from. Many people have fatty liver disease, but  simply don’t know it. The same results were found at the famous Stanford University (Review of Gastrological Disorders). Later at the Mayo Clinic (Best Practices in Research in Clinical Gastroenterology) doctors successfully treated non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Anyone with hepatitis should do this program for two years. Please read the article on hepatitis in our library Hepatitis-C.

Doctors at the University of Virginia (Current Treatments in Gastroenterology) gave TMG to people with non-alcoholic fatty livers. They suggested this as a superior treatment to drugs, along with better food choices. Fatty liver leads to far more serious conditions including early death. The same results were found at Loyola University (Nutrition Reviews).

Another exogenous supplement you can take is sodium alginate, a seaweed extract. Take six 500 mg capsules a day- three in the AM and three in the PM- for six months. This will also help remove heavy toxic metals from your system. You can find this on eBay.

Everyone should help rejuvenate their liver by taking 3 grams of TMG daily for six months. Do this for twelve months if you suspect any kind of liver condition. Take 1 gram for the rest of your life after that. This is a proven way to lower homocysteine levels and improve coronary heart health as well. Always remember that diet is everything. A low-fat diet is the secret to good liver health more than anything else. Also, be sure to fast once a week on water from dinner to dinner to give your liver a rest. Eat two meals a day rather than three. Don’t eat out much. Take your lunch to work. Don’t cheat. Diet and lifestyle are the real answer as always. Please print out the article Seven Steps to Natural Health, and do all seven with no excuses.

The two popular liver diagnostic tests are ALT (SGPT) and AST (SGOT). You can use an online lab like www.healthlabs.com. People who are androgen resistant (read the Androgen Resistance article) may not be able to take this, as it will raise E1 and E2 by stimulating aromatase. You will know this if you gain weight and get gynecomastia when taking TMG. This is uncommon fortunately. (Aromatase cannot be tested.)