The liver is one of the most vital organs of the human body. It is also the largest organ in the human body weighing at about 3 pounds and it is the size of a football. It is located in the upper right side of the abdominal area under the ribs.

The liver has multiple functions in the body. It helps fight infections and cleans the blood. It also helps digest food and stores energy for when you need it. The liver also acts as a filter, removing impurities and toxins from the blood. It metabolizes and detoxifies substances ingested by the body.

Nearly all of the blood that leaves the stomach and intestines must pass through the liver. The liver has a right lobe and a left lobe. Blood enters the liver through the hepatic artery and the portal vein. The blood from the hepatic artery carries oxygen and helps support liver growth. The portal vein carries blood and nutrients from the intestine, and delivers them to the liver cells (hepatocytes) which perform specific liver functions. Blood leaves the liver through the hepatic veins.

Important functions are disrupted when the liver doesn't function well. Other organs, such as the kidney and the brain, can be affected when the liver is not working well. Luckily the liver is an organ capable of natural regeneration as little as 25% of a liver can remain and still grow into a whole liver again.

The liver acts as the body's largest chemical factory and produces varied substances in the body, including:

1) Glucose, a basic sugar and energy source
2) Blood-clotting factors that aid in healing wounds
3) Proteins, the building blocks for growth
4) Bile, a fluid stored in the gallbladder that is necessary for the absorption of fats and vitamin

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