Diseases Of The Digestive System

The liver works around the clock to keep us healthy. Its primary functions are bile production and excretion, bilirubin, cholesterol, hormones, and drugs excretion, metabolism of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates, enzyme activation, glycogen storage, vitamins A, D, E, K, B12, and minerals storage, and synthesis of plasma proteins, such as albumin and clotting factors.

While the liver (along with the pancreas and gallbladder) is not part of the digestive system, it plays a vital role as food is digested and goes from top to bottom. Anything we eat, whether food, alcohol, medicine, or toxins, gets filtered by the liver. Once we ingest food, it is digested by the stomach and intestine, absorbed into the blood, and goes to the liver.

The liver’s primary role is to process materials absorbed by the small intestine and produce the necessary chemicals. The liver is the chemical factory of the body. It processes nutrients so that the rest of the body can use them. It also produces albumin, which enters the bloodstream and helps keep fluid from leaking out of the blood vessels into other tissues. It also carries hormones, vitamins, and enzymes throughout the body. Without enough albumin, fluid can leak out of the blood and build up in the lungs, abdomen (Ascites), or other body parts.

The liver also creates bile, which converts excess carbohydrates and proteins and stores them for later use. Bile is essential for digestion. It helps the body absorb fat into the bloodstream and carries unusable waste products and toxins out of the body through the stool. Bile is composed mainly of water electrolytes and other substances, including bile salts, cholesterol, bilirubin, lecithin, amino acids, drugs, toxins, heavy metals, and vitamins. The bile has five main functions:

• Aids in the digestion of fat via fat emulsification.
• Absorption of fat and fat-soluble vitamins.
• Excretion of bilirubin and excess cholesterol.
• Provides an alkaline fluid in the duodenum to neutralize the acidic pH of the chyme that comes from the stomach.
• It provides bactericidal activity against microorganisms present in the ingested food.

In fat metabolism, the liver cells break down fat and produce energy. They also create about 800 to 1,000 ml of bile per day. This yellow, brownish, or olive-green liquid is collected in small ducts and then passed to the central bile duct, which carries the bile to a part of the small intestine called the duodenum.

The liver is one of the largest organs in the body and has many critical metabolic functions. It converts the nutrients in our diets into substances that the body can use, stores these substances, and supplies cells with them when needed. It also takes up toxic substances and converts them into harmless substances or ensures they are released from the body.

Regulation, Detoxification, and Elimination

The liver also breaks down toxic substances like drugs, alcohol, and medicines. It removes them by excreting waste into the blood, which is then cleansed by the kidneys. Waste filtered by the kidneys is then removed from the body through the urine.

Another role of the liver is to ensure a healthy blood sugar level by removing sugar from the blood and storing it as glycogen. When blood sugar levels are low, the liver will convert the glycogen to glucose, adding an energy boost to the bloodstream. When blood sugar levels are high, the liver can remove glucose from the blood as needed to keep the sugar levels constant.

The liver also plays a vital role in protein metabolism. Its cells change amino acids in foods so that they can be used to produce energy or make carbohydrates or fats. A toxic substance called ammonia is a by-product of this process. The liver cells convert ammonia to a much less harmful substance called urea, released into the blood. Urea is then transported to the kidneys and passes out of the body in urine.

The liver produces proteins, some of which are important in blood clotting, with the help of vitamin K. It is also an organ that breaks down old or damaged blood cells.

Inflammation of the lining of the abdominal cavity is peritonitis. Indications of peritonitis are called “peritoneal signs”: tender abdomen, rebound pain (pain when manual pressure is released from examining abdomen), board-like rigidity of abdominal muscles, and no bowel sounds (gurgles). The peritoneal membrane is very sensitive to exposure to foreign substances. Contact with blood, bile, urine, or pus will cause peritoneal signs.

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that may lead to various health problems, some of which can be fatal. There are five main strains of the hepatitis virus, referred to as types A, B, C, D, and E. While they all cause liver disease, they differ in important ways, including modes of transmission, severity of the illness, and geographical distribution. Hepatitis B and C lead to chronic disease in hundreds of millions of people and, together, are the most common cause of liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, and viral hepatitis-related deaths. The main causative factors of Hepatitis are:

• Immune cells in the body attacking the liver.
• Infections from viruses (such as hepatitis A, B, or C), bacteria, or parasites.
• Liver damage from alcohol or poison.
• Medicines, such as an overdose of acetaminophen.
• Fatty liver.

The hepatitis virus is transmissible when blood, semen, or another bodily fluid from a person with the virus enters the body of an individual who does not have it. More specifically, the infection can occur when a woman having this infection gives birth (to a newly born child), during sexual activity, because of sharing needles, syringes, or other drug injection devices, as a result of practicing unsafe tattoo techniques, by sharing personal hygiene items, such as razors and toothbrushes, etc. Acute symptoms appear around 60–150 days after exposure to the virus, and can last from several weeks to six months. A person with a chronic infection may have ongoing episodes of abdominal pain, persistent fatigue, and aching joints. If infection does cause symptoms early, they may include fever, joint pain, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, abdominal pain, dark urine, clay-colored stool, and yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice).

Hepatitis is not curable by modern advanced medical science. Anti-viral medication is tried to cure, and if the infection starts causing permanent liver damage, a liver transplant is the only option for probable survival.

“A vast majority in the area relied on alternate systems of medicine for Hepatitis A therapy, depicting its potential advantages over modern system of medicine in the treatment of this specific condition. Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, Siddha and Unani comprised the four dominant alternate systems of medicine relied on by Hepatitis. A patients in the area. A collaborative effort between government, modern medicine and alternate medicine system can be highly effective in reducing the outbreaks of such epidemics through proper preventive and therapeutic strategies. It is vital to conceive integrative therapeutic strategies and propagate these notions from primary levels, thereby benefitting the community as a whole”. Ref. Journal of traditional and complementary medicine, 6(3), 316-320, pp. 319-320]. In our opinion, the same is the position in the case of jaundice and other Liver diseases. However, sufferers of this disease, as well as from jaundice and also any other Liver problem, need not worry as our integrated therapy is capable enough to take care of it and cure the disease instead of simply managing it.

• Medical treatment instructions require clinical review before publication.
• Severe abdominal pain, fever or jaundice associated with gallstones requires prompt medical assessment.