Leading expert in liver diseases, Dr. Simon Robson, MD, explains how to keep your liver healthy for life. He details common risks to liver health, including toxins, viruses, and metabolic syndrome. Dr. Robson provides actionable tips to ensure optimal liver function, emphasizing moderation and avoiding high-risk behaviors. A medical second opinion can confirm a chronic liver disease diagnosis and guide treatment for conditions like NAFLD.
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Essential Strategies for Optimal Liver Health and Disease Prevention
Jump To Section
- Genetics and Liver Health
- Avoiding Toxins and Medications
- Managing Diet and Metabolic Health
- Preventing Viral Hepatitis
- Lifestyle Habits for a Healthy Liver
- Full Transcript
Genetics and Liver Health
Dr. Simon Robson, MD, highlights that genetics play a significant role in an individual's susceptibility to liver disease. He notes that only one in six people who drink excess amounts of alcohol will develop liver problems, underscoring the importance of genetic predisposition. While you cannot choose your parents, being aware of a family history of liver disease is crucial for understanding personal risk factors.
Avoiding Toxins and Medications
A primary strategy for liver health is limiting exposure to known hepatotoxins. Dr. Simon Robson, MD, specifically warns against excessive alcohol consumption and overuse of medications like Tylenol (acetaminophen/paracetamol). He also describes the severe danger of toxic mushrooms, such as the death cap (Amanita phalloides), which can cause acute liver failure and are sometimes mistaken for edible varieties.
Managing Diet and Metabolic Health
Preventing metabolic syndrome is fundamental to protecting the liver. Dr. Robson advises patients to avoid excessive nutrient intake and becoming overweight. Key dietary recommendations include limiting saturated fats and refined carbohydrates. This approach helps prevent the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and type 2 diabetes, both of which are major drivers of chronic liver conditions.
Preventing Viral Hepatitis
Dr. Simon Robson, MD, identifies specific high-risk behaviors that increase the chance of contracting viral hepatitis, particularly hepatitis B. These behaviors include intravenous drug use, having tattoos done with unsterile equipment, and having a high number of lifetime sexual partners. He cites research indicating that having more than 50 sexual partners is associated with a significantly increased risk.
Lifestyle Habits for a Healthy Liver
A holistic approach to liver care involves maintaining a generally healthy lifestyle. Dr. Robson summarizes this as "good luck, looking after oneself, healthy exercise, healthy lifestyle." This includes eating in moderation, exercising regularly, and making conscious choices to avoid the various insults—from viruses to toxins—that can damage the liver over a lifetime. During the interview with Dr. Anton Titov, MD, the emphasis was always on proactive, preventive care.
Full Transcript
Dr. Anton Titov, MD: How to keep liver healthy? Leading expert in liver diseases discusses how to keep your liver healthy for the entire life. What are common risks to health of liver? What are easy steps to ensure that your liver works well?
How to Keep Your Liver Healthy. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. Video interview with leading expert in liver diseases Harvard Medical School. Dr. Simon Robson, MD.
Tips to Keep your Liver Healthy are: (1) avoid toxins, including toxic mushrooms, paracetamol, Tylenol and acetaminophen; (2) Eat in moderation; (3) drink alcohol in moderation.
Genetics is important to avoid liver diseases but lifestyle has the most influence on risk of chronic liver disease. Many patients want to know how to Keep Liver Healthy.
Medical second opinion helps to make sure chronic liver disease diagnosis is correct and complete. Dr. Simon Robson, MD.
Medical second opinion also helps to choose the best treatment for non alcoholic fatty liver disease and autoimmune liver disease. Dr. Anton Titov, MD.
What are ways to strengthen your Liver? Avoid high-risk behaviors. Avoid tattoos, multiple sex partners and excessive alcohol consumption. Know how to Keep Your Liver Healthy.
Tips how to keep liver healthy. Dr. Anton Titov, MD.
Many insults potentially can affect the liver. There are the viruses, the metabolic syndrome. Liver transplantation is difficult.
How to keep the liver healthy? Dr. Anton Titov, MD.
What can patients do to make sure their liver works well, that liver function is preserved? How to ensure the liver stays in this excellent health for many years?
Dr. Simon Robson, MD: Choose your parents very carefully! I'm joking, one cannot do that. But clearly there is a family history of liver disease.
People can be predisposed to development of liver problems with high with alcohol exposure and so forth. It is clear that if patients drinking excess amounts of alcohol, only 1 in 6 will develop liver disease. Clearly genetics is important.
Having said that, there are certain risk factors and high-risk activities, this can be predispose to liver disease and viruses. These include intravenous drug use, cocaine, tattooing, having multiple sex partners.
The usual number cited is having more than 50 sex partners for a lifetime is dangerous. It is associated with increased risk of some of these hepatitis viruses, particularly hepatitis B.
A person needs to lead a life this is not characterized by any of these major high risk activities.
Dr. Anton Titov, MD: A person limits exposure to hepatotoxins, like alcohol, medications as I have mentioned that can damage the liver - such as Tylenol.
There are other medicines toxic to liver, certain toxins. For example, mushrooms. We didn't speak about mushrooms. But there are some forms of death cap mushrooms.
These we see in New England. We also see toxic mushrooms in Europe, particularly parts of Italy. Some mushrooms are very toxic to the liver.
It is called Amanita phalloides, and patients can mistake it with non-toxic mushrooms. They say that "there are old mushroom pickers and brave mushroom pickers.
But there are very few brave old mushroom pickers." Avoid toxin exposure.
Then there is obviously a metabolic syndrome. To keep liver healthy, you should avoid excessive nutrients, avoid getting overweight.
Avoid development of diabetes by watching weight. Limit intake of the high levels of saturated fat. These refined carbohydrates that we have alluded to.
Dr. Anton Titov, MD: Basically a lot of it is good luck, looking after oneself, healthy exercise, healthy lifestyle.
How to keep liver healthy? Video interview with leading liver diseases expert from Boston. Influence of genetics, food, toxins and lifestyle on liver health.