Your Liver wants to be known II.

Hello friends, it's another Tuesday again and we'll be concluding our discussion on the functions of the liver and then we'll look at it's disorders next week..

FUNCTIONS OF THE LIVER.
The metabolic functions of the liver:
7. Carbohydrate Metabolism:
It helps in the breakdown of carbohydrates into glucose and goes on to store the excess as glycogen. It also has the capacity to regulate blood sugar by releasing stored glycogen back into the blood as glucose in case of low blood sugar and mopping up excess and storing them as glycogen when it is high. This is known as the glucose buffer function of the liver. In the event of extremely low level of glucose liver can convert protein and fat into glucose for use of the body that process is known as gluconeogenesis.

8. Fat metabolism.
The liver is involved in the metabolism of fat by producing large quantities of cholesterol, phospholipids, bile and lipoproteins that help break down and transport fatty acids to the cells for further oxidation to generate energy or for storage.
And as mentioned above the liver can also breakdown fats to produce glucose.

9. Protein metabolism.
The liver helps to breakdown large molecules of protein into smaller absorbable portions known as amino acids for the body to be able to utilize them.
It also uses these ammo acids to synthesize plasma proteins which are essential for optimum body functions. It also converts the ammonia that is released from breaking down protein into urea which is excreted by the kidney in the urine. Ammonia when left in the body is very toxic.

10. The liver produces plasma proteins that are needed in blood coagulation in the case of injuries which helps prevent excessive bleeding and even death.

11. The liver is involved in breaking down the drugs we ingest into smaller components that can be utilized by the body. Most drugs pass through the liver especially oral drugs through a process known as the 'first pass effect'. It also removes the toxic part of those drugs or harmful substances and excretes them through the kidney in urine or through faeces.

Photo Credit: Medicine Net.com

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