The liver is awash in blood, with two quarts rushing through it every minute. This blood contains a host of noxious sub-stances, including aged red blood cells, antigen-allergy complexes, free radicals, drug metabolites and pesticides. The liver filters some harmful substances right out of the blood, and attacks others with enzymes that break them apart or neu-tralize them.

As your body’s primary detox system, your liver serves as the frontline of defense against chemicals and drugs. Of the thousands of industrial chemicals you’re exposed to daily, over 700 of them have made their way into your body1,2 … making your liver highly susceptible to chemically induced injury.

In addition, over 900 drugs have been implicated in liver damage, including statins, hormonal contraceptives, and antibiotics like erythromycin.2 The popular pain-relieving drug Tylenol® (acetamino-phen) happens to be the number one cause of acute liver failure in the United States.3 So it’s not surprising that many drugs require liver function monitoring to ensure that you sustain no damage.

Needless to say, routine blood testing is vitally important. Elevated liver enzymes in the blood indicate the extent of liver damage, which can develop rapidly,

even before liver enzyme abnormalities can manifest.

NAFLD (nonalcoholic fatty liver dis-ease) is defined as fat deposited in the liver cells of patients with little or no alcohol intake and with no other known cause. One in three Americans already suffers from NAFLD. 4 Left undetected, it can progress to inflammation, scarring of the liver (cirrhosis), and full-blown liver failure. An overload of dietary fats resulting in abnormal lipid profiles is the chief culprit.

Between poor diet choices and chem-ical injuries, your liver needs about as much help as it can get. So … how do you detoxify this detoxifier? Start with a smarter, healthier diet … including darkly colored fruits, cruciferous vegetables, and lean protein. But don’t stop there! Supplement with other nutrients your liver needs.

Take vitamin E to help prevent oxida-tive stress and inflammation. Omega-3 fatty acids to attack lipotoxicity, another source of NAFLD-related liver damage. And antioxidant supplements like these for additional protection.

Silibinin from milk thistleMilk thistle is an herb that’s been used

to treat liver disease since ancient times.

Life Extension

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Based on the research we fund and the information we report, we’ve formulated some 350 different premium-quality, science-based nutritional supplements to help you achieve and maintain optimal health … and assembled an integrative team of Health Advisors to help you in customizing personal regimens of diet, exercise, and nutritional supplements.

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Protecting

Your Body From Toxins!

Your liver sits in the right side of your upper abdomen and, weigh-ing in at about four pounds, is both the largest internal organ and the largest glandular organ in your body. As your body’s primary metabolic processor for virtually all substances (including those that are internally produced, like protein and cholesterol, and externally introduced like chemicals, drugs and alcohol), it performs over 300 critical metabolic functions … including converting food nutrients into fats, carbohydrates and proteins; and participating in the regula-tion and storage of glucose.

It’s a member of the same plant family as the arti-choke, and its medicinal properties derive from an extract taken from the plant’s seeds. Milk thistle extracts are among the most potent defenders of liver function … capable of halting and even revers-ing externally induced liver damage.

The active ingredient in milk thistle extract is silymarin5… which is itself composed of six major active molecules with exceptional antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity.6 Of these, silibinin is by far the most biologically active and, according to research, the one that detoxifies and protects the liver, guards it against free radical damage,7 reduces inflammation8 and helps replenish glutathione (a protective antioxidant highly concentrated in the liver),9 spurs the growth of new liver cells and allows damaged liver tissue to regenerate,10 and can even inhibit the production of cholesterol.11

Supplementing with silibinin has no known side effects … and doses of 150 to 300 mg per day are

considered sufficient to increase the liver’s produc-tion of glutathione.

N-acetylcysteineDerived from the simple amino acid cysteine,

N-acetylcysteine provides significant protection against a broad array of modern toxins … from cigarette smoke and auto exhaust to herbicides and drugs.

Free radicals are among the most damaging pollutants in the human body. They are the toxic waste products of normal cellular metabolism. Left unchecked, free radicals interrupt cellular regenera-tion, eventually damaging cells, contributing to the development of neurodegenerative diseases,12,13 and even playing a major role in the body’s aging process.

Antioxidants scavenge free radicals, effectively neutralizing them and contributing to more-effi-cient liver function. And N-acetylcysteine is a vital

Free radicals are among the most damaging pollutants in the human body. They are the toxic waste products of normal cellular metabolism.

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Milk Thistle Plantextracts are among the most potent defenders of liver function

antioxidant that helps protect the liver from poten-tially adverse effects of exposure to a broad range of toxic chemicals, including those chemicals that can poison the body through cumulative use.

For example, N-acetylcysteine counteracts acet-aminophen toxicity and has been routinely used at very high levels in hospitals for patients with acetaminophen poisoning. It has also been shown to be effective in treating liver failure from hepatitis and other drug toxicity.14

N-acetylcysteine also helps the body convert and synthesize the antioxidant glutathione at more ben-eficial levels to enhance cell function and help the liver remove chemicals like drugs and pollutants.

While cysteine is in most high-protein foods … N-acetylcysteine is not available from food, so sup-plementation is desirable. A considerable number of research studies on N-acetylcysteine used a dosage of 250–1,500 mg per day. It was well tolerated with no sedative or stimulant effects.

Antioxidants scavenge free radicals, effectively neutralizing them and contributing to more-efficient liver function.

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SAMe Constant exposure to free radicals and toxic stress

makes liver cells especially vulnerable to the deple-tion of glutathione, the natural antioxidant that helps in so many liver detoxification reactions.15,16 SAMe (S-adenosylmethionine) is one of the few nutrients that can help replenish glutathione levels and restore liver cell protection to normal.17

Studies have demonstrated that 200 to 400 mg of SAMe improves liver enzymes, which are an early marker of cell damage.18 SAMe supplementation also produces improvements in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease relating to fatty degeneration, inflam-mation, and tissue death17 … and stops the progres-sion of this disease toward a more dangerous level of damage.19

Free Radicals

Liver

References:1. Characterization of HRGC/MSUnidentified Peaks

from the Analysis of Human Adipose Tissue. Volume 1: Technical Approach. Washington, DC: U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency Office of Toxic Substanc-es; 1987.

2. Current Diagnosis and Treatment in Gastroenterology. New York: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2002.

3. Clin Gastroenterol. 2009 Apr;43(4):342-9.4. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2008 Jul;28(1):2-12.5. Altern Med Rev. 2005 Sep;10(3):193-203.6. Drug Metab Dispos. 2008 Sep;36(9):1909-16.7. Cell Biochem Funct. 1997 Mar;15(1):27-33.8. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2009 Apr;53(4):460-6.9. Evid Based Complement Alternat

Med. 2011;2011:nep164. 10. World J Gastroenterol. 2011 May 14;17(18):2288-301.11. Arzneimittelforschung. 1977;27:1691-4.12. Pharmacol Ther. 1994;63(1):37-122.13. Trends Neurosci. 1993 Nov;16(11):439-44.14. Ann Pharmacother. 2004 Mar;38(3):498-500.15. J Nutr. 2009 Jan;139(1):63-8.16. J Biol Chem. 2010 Jun 11;285(24):18528-36.17. J Biochem Mol Toxicol. 2006;20(1):39-47.18. J Clin Gastroenterol. 2006 Mar;40 Suppl 1:S51-60.19. Dig Dis Sci. 2008 Oct;53(10):2761-74.

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