Know your body – Liver

LIVER

The liver is right inside your abdomen, up under your rib cage, and it’s very important to your health.

Your liver is the largest solid organ in your body. By the time you’re grown up, it will be about the size of a football.

The liver helps you by taking toxins out of your blood. Wait! Why do you have toxins in your blood in the first place? Sometimes the body produces them as part of its normal function, like breaking down protein, a component in foods such as meat and nuts.

The liver processes the good stuff into forms that the rest of the body can use. Any waste or stuff the body doesn’t need can be carried by bile back into the intestine and out of the body when you poop.

Now that you know how much your liver does for you, you’re probably wondering what you can do for it. It’s easy, really. Staying healthy is the best way to care for your liver. The liver can be damaged if a person is very overweight or drinks too much alcohol. So be active, eat right, and your liver will keep on loving you back!