Life is made up of big and small habits. Good habits can make life successful. On the contrary, bad habits will not only drag down your life, but also affect your health and even endanger your life. Take fatty liver, one of the most common chronic liver diseases among Hong Kong people, as an example. It is mostly caused by bad habits such as excessive drinking, improper diet, lack of weight control, and lack of exercise. When excess fat accumulates in the liver, preventing it from functioning properly, it can lead to inflammation and damage to the cells. Although the liver has a self-repair function, if it is not repaired properly, it will form scars and gradually lose its elasticity. The scientific name is liver fibrosis. If liver fibrosis becomes more and more serious, it will evolve into cirrhosis, increasing the risk of complications such as jaundice, ascites, gastroesophageal varices, hepatic coma, liver cancer, and even kidney failure.
As the saying goes, “disease enters through the mouth”, improper diet can not only cause fatty liver, but also cause acute liver poisoning or chronic liver disease. There have been local cases of liver transplantation following eating poisonous wild mushrooms. In addition to mushrooms, you should also be cautious when eating seafood or animal offal, otherwise it is easy to cause acute hepatitis. For example, hepatitis A is mainly transmitted through ingestion of undercooked contaminated shellfish. It is recommended that all seafood should be thoroughly washed and cooked, and good food hygiene should be maintained at all times. In addition, do not eat raw freshwater fish to prevent infection with Chinese liver fluke. Chinese liver fluke is a parasite that increases the chance of bile duct obstruction, inflammation and bile duct cancer. Since the liver and gallbladder are structurally connected, if something happens to the gallbladder, liver function will be greatly affected.
As we all know, one of the important functions of the liver is detoxification, and drugs are also metabolized and decomposed by the liver. However, some people are used to not taking medicine according to the instructions, which greatly increases the chance of liver injury. Even the most commonly used paracetamol has a daily upper limit of 4 grams. Overdose can lead to acute hepatitis and even liver failure. If your liver function is poor, you need to be more careful with the medication. According to a study, regarding 7-8% of liver failure patients requiring liver transplantation are caused by taking Chinese medicine by mistake. If you need to take any Chinese and Western medicines, you should consult your doctor first for safety.
Get rid of and pay attention to the bad liver-damaging habits mentioned above, work and rest regularly, eat a balanced diet, and take in high-quality protein, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidant nutrients, all of which will help protect the liver. As for high-risk individuals such as long-term drinking, hepatitis B, and family history of liver cancer, they should go for regular physical examinations. Something as simple as a liver function test can also help detect problems early.
Written by: Dr. Li Yongheng
Gastroenterology and Hepatology Specialist
