by Russell Waldron

Created on: June 12, 2009   Last Updated: June 13, 2009

Are fast foods damaging your liver?

Fast foods may be cheap, convenient and delicious, but over indulgence can effect your liver. Our liver has a host of functions, the main one being the ability to neutralize the various toxins we eat. A healthy liver is needed in order to ensure that nutrients reach our body's cells and free the blood of toxins and pathogens. Various parts of our body frees the contaminates and these are; the lungs, colon, kidneys, skin and lymphatic system. When we overindulge on fast foods which contain high levels of fats, salt and sugar, the body becomes lethargic and the liver eventually becomes blocked with toxins. Thus, the liver fails to function adequately which leads to a host of health problems. When this occurs we have what medical experts call a "Sluggish Liver."

A sluggish liver is described as a liver which has lost its ability to detoxify toxins. Symptoms experienced will be many, such as irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, high cholesterol level, skin rashes, asthma, allergies, irritability and high blood sugar levels. But that's not all, too much fast food can cause high blood pressure, abdominal bloating, weight gain, cellulite, eczema, allergies and a host of other ailments which are associated with a sluggish liver. As you can see, the liver is definitely effected by the foods we eat. But what you don't see is even more dangerous. When we eat fast foods laced with hydrogenated oils which contain trans-fatty acids, the liver sees this as a toxin instead of a nutrient. Now approximately 40% of that fat that we consume (and much more if you indulge in junk foods too often) contains hydrogenated oils.

Perhaps you don't realize that trans-fatty acids are more harmful than regular animal fat. In actual fact, trans-fatty acids are said to be associated with breast cancer, diabetes and heart disease! Therefore, the more you over indulge on junk food the more you suppress the correct functioning of your liver. When the liver is sluggish and fighting hard to work correctly, it eventually stores all the fats we eat within the liver's cells. More so around the waistline. When the liver is healthy, it rids the body of some fats through the bile and other fats via the faeces. When we eat an adequate amount of fibre the fat is absorbed into the fibre and held there until we experience a bowel movement. If we fail to have an ample supply of fibre in our diets, fat can actually be reabsorbed by the colon walls and this makes it

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