We explain the benefits of eating liver and also when you should not eat it.
Whether it is a dish to your liking or everything else, in this article we will talk about its nutritional properties , as well as those cases in which it may not be healthy to eat liver.
The liver and its functions
The liver has functions within the digestive system, for example with the manufacture of bile, which is then stored in the gallbladder, necessary for digestion. It also has nutrient storage functions, such as glycogen, and hormone excretion. The liver is now believed to have more than 500 functions, making it a vitally important organ.
In humans, the liver is made up of four lobes and is located to our right in the abdominal cavity, under the last ribs, which protect it. About 15 cm long and 1.5 kg in weight, the liver is the largest gland in the human body.
To better understand its impact on nutrition, we need to contextualize the liver’s role. Being found in vertebrate animals, their functions can vary greatly depending on the evolutionary adaptations of the different species. For example, sharks have gigantic livers that can take up to 90% of their chest cavity. Being so large and storing a high fat content, the liver allows the shark to improve its buoyancy.
Other species, such as the puffer fish (particularly the Fugu), have livers that are not suitable for human consumption. In this case, the liver would be loaded with tetrodotoxin, a highly neurotoxic molecule, which serves as a clear example that sometimes it is not healthy to eat liver, depending on its origin.
Nutritional properties of the liver
Even so, the liver that we consume usually comes from farm animals such as cows, pigs, chickens, ducks or geese (the latter especially in the form of “foie”, in some cases enriched by force-feeding the animal to accumulation of fats in the liver).
In this article we will focus on commenting on whether it is healthy to eat liver from those animals from which it is normally obtained in the Western diet, such as chicken or cows, but the nutritional values will vary depending on its origin.
1. It is rich in protein
Which can be helpful when we are following a diet that needs a high amount of these. Protein-rich diets help in weight loss processes, since foods with a high protein percentage give a greater feeling of satiety without having so many calories, which helps us eat less. Additionally, high-protein diets enhance thermogenesis, the processes by which we generate heat. These processes help burn calories!
- You might also be interested in: 15 ways to lose weight (healthily and beyond exercise)
2. It is rich in vitamins
Especially vitamin A (100 grams of liver gives us more than 800% of the daily dose of vitamin A ). It is also rich in other vitamins such as:
- vitamin B2
- vitamin B6
- vitamin B9
- B12 vitamin
- Vitamin C
3. It is rich in iron and other minerals
Some types of anemia or people with an anemic tendency need an extra supply of iron outside of the diet, but the liver can satisfy a large part of our iron needs. 100 grams of liver provide us with more than 65% of the daily dose of iron needed in men, and 30% of the recommended daily dose for women. If you are a person with high iron needs, surely eating liver is healthy for you.
Is it healthy to eat liver?
Not everything can be good in this life, so the liver couldn’t have only good things either. Regardless of its taste or texture, which is unpleasant for many, liver can have negative effects on health in some specific cases.
For example, in people who suffer from gout, who consume foods rich in purines, such as liver or red meat, are discouraged. The consumed purines become uric acid when metabolized by our body, increasing the painful symptoms of this disease.
It is also not recommended if we follow a low cholesterol diet , since the liver contains a high amount. Still, the correlation between cholesterol intake and heart disease is under study, and there is mounting evidence that we have so far blamed cholesterol more than we should.
So the answer to that question, like most answers in the field of nutrition, depends on your personal characteristics and needs. Even so, as a general answer, liver is a very complete food that can complement our diet in a positive way in the vast majority of cases.
Hypervitaminosis A
We could not finish the article without mentioning this anecdote about the consumption of liver. We have previously commented that the liver has an incredible amount of vitamin A. Well, there is the possibility of suffering a type of intoxication called Hypervitaminosis A by consuming exaggerated amounts of this vitamin. It causes symptoms such as irritability, drowsiness, headache, vomiting or liver growth.
This is a real problem in communities that are in contact with animals such as seals and polar bears, which have a much higher amount of vitamin A in their livers than that of most animals , so civilizations in contact with these species avoid consuming the liver in these cases. In fact, there are records from arctic explorers from the early 20th century detailing the unpleasant effects of vitamin A poisoning after consuming polar bear liver during an arctic expedition.
So maybe eating liver is healthy, but not all livers.
- To continue reading: “What is junk food? 10 types of harmful food products”
Bibliographic references
- Halton, TL. (2004) The effects of high protein diets on thermogenesis, satiety and weight loss: a critical review. Journal of the American College of Nutrition.
- Fuhrman, Joel. (2010) Changing perceptions of hunger on a high nutrient diet. NutritionJournal.
- Denise Carrington-Smith. (2005) Mawson and Mertz: a re-evaluation of their ill-fated mapping journey during the 1911–1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition.
To the classic question “what do you do?” I always answer “basically I am a psychologist”. In fact, my academic training has revolved around the psychology of development, education and community, a field of study influenced my volunteer activities, as well as my first work experiences in personal services.