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A quarter of the world's inhabitants have liver problems
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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It is not for nothing that the liver is called the main orderly of the body, because it is the one that is in full combat readiness and, like a biochemical laboratory, removes toxins and neutralizes poisons, leaving in the blood only the substances necessary for normal metabolic processes.
If the liver malfunctions, various diseases will not fail to encroach on human health. Therefore, it is important to protect the health of the liver and try not to overload it.
New Year's holidays are exactly the time when the hard-working liver works at full capacity. Just imagine how much work it has to do: alcohol, an abundance of fatty foods and sweets.
Last year, the British Liver Trust charity conducted research and found that 28% of people who were tested had early signs of liver failure. And if you ignore this and continue to lead a sedentary lifestyle, eat unhealthy foods rich in fat and drink alcohol, this can lead to irreversible liver damage and even death.
Among the diseases that take people's lives prematurely, liver diseases are in fifth place.
The British Liver Trust charity is calling on the government to make liver disease testing available to everyone, in a move they hope could save one million lives a year.
The charity also believes that doctors should do more to ask patients more questions about their lifestyle and habits, and offer them a simple test to help identify the condition of their liver, as is done for patients with high blood pressure.
The foundation's executive director, Andrei Langford, says that at the first signs of liver disease, the situation can be corrected by changing your lifestyle.
"Drinking alcohol every night, eating fatty foods and getting little or no physical activity are the main factors that affect liver health," says Mr Langford.
Langford says the last five years have seen a significant decline in the age of people dying from liver disease, from 58 now to about 50 by 2020.
Researchers say many simply do not understand the consequences that an unhealthy lifestyle can lead to and do not associate it with cirrhosis and liver cancer. And many still believe in the myth that cirrhosis of the liver can only be caused by excessive alcohol consumption.
Often, signs of liver failure are not noticeable, and by the time a person discovers the problem, it is too late.
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