Liver

The liver is a large organ inside your body that cleans your blood and helps you digest food. It sits just under your ribs on the right side, tucked above the stomach. In an adult, the liver weighs about three pounds, which makes it the heaviest organ inside the body. Only the skin, on the outside, weighs more.

The liver is reddish-brown and shaped a little like a flattened cone. It has two main sections, called lobes. Blood flows into the liver from two different places. One pipe brings fresh blood from the heart. Another pipe brings blood straight from the stomach and intestines, full of nutrients from the food you just ate.

The liver does more than 500 different jobs. Most of them fall into a few groups.

First, the liver cleans the blood. When you eat, drink, or breathe, small amounts of harmful chemicals can get into your body. The liver pulls these out and breaks them down so your body can get rid of them. This includes alcohol and many medicines. That is one reason doctors warn people not to drink too much alcohol. It can damage the liver over time.

Second, the liver helps you digest fat. It makes a yellow-green liquid called bile. Bile is stored in a small pouch nearby called the gallbladder. When you eat something greasy, like pizza or French fries, the gallbladder squirts bile into your intestines to break the fat into tiny pieces.

Third, the liver stores energy. After a meal, it tucks away extra sugar from your blood as a substance called glycogen. Hours later, when you have not eaten in a while, the liver releases that sugar back into your blood. This keeps you from running out of energy between meals.

The liver also stores certain vitamins, makes proteins that help your blood clot when you get a cut, and helps fight off germs.

The liver has one ability no other organ in your body has. It can grow back. If part of the liver is hurt or removed in surgery, the healthy part can rebuild itself to nearly its full size in a few months. Doctors use this ability in liver transplants. A living person can give part of their liver to someone who is sick, and both livers will regrow.

To keep your liver healthy, doctors say to eat lots of fruits and vegetables, drink plenty of water, and stay active. The liver is quiet, but it is working for you every minute of every day.