How to Protect Yourself Against Liver Diseases Naturally

Moreover, the organ performs the function of recycling old blood cells.

According to the statistics provided by the CDC and the American Liver Foundation, cirrhosis is a common liver disease which causes the death of over 31,000 people in the U.S. each year

The increase in age, gender, exposure to hepatitis viral occupation, being overweight or obese, high

blood cholesterol, hypertriglyceridemia, diabetes and long term use of certain medication such as

corticosteroids, prednisone, hydrocortisone are some prevalent risk factor of liver diseases.

In the US, the hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the leading cause of cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Dr. Vikas Khullar, the lead scientist in the examination of hepatitis C in risk of liver diseases wrote, “Despite recent advances in drugs for the treatment of hepatitis C, predictive models estimate the incidence of cirrhosis due to hepatitis C infection will continue to rise for the next two decades”.

And, “There is currently an immense interest in the treatment of patients with fibrosis and early-stage cirrhosis as treatment can lead to decrease in the rates of decompensated cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and need for liver transplantation in these patients”.

Bilberry is a species of low-growing shrubs in the genus Vaccinium, belonging to the family Ericaceae, native to Northern Europe.

Restraint mice before injection of bilberry extract showed increased malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and lower oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) values in plasma and liver.

Furthermore, the injection of the extract also bilberry increased antioxidant enzymes produced by the host such as glutathione (GSH) and vitamin C and significantly decreased the oxidative stress marker MDA and levels of free radicals such as nitric oxide (NO) in the liver tissues.