Your Liver: The Ultimate Dextox

'Tis the holiday season and I'm happily imbibing in seasonally appropriate gustatory delights. Is this healthy you ask? To which I reply, I have to eat and drink every day to maintain homeostasis, I may as well ingest pumpkin-spice, peppermint-chocolate, and apple-cinnamon flavored sustenance while I can. With carrots on the side, of course.

Though my "everything in moderation" dietary school of thought keeps me from suffering much angst when confronted with the holiday smorgasbord, I'd say I'm in the minority. Many folks are concerned about overindulgence and unhealthy eating during this time of year. After the holiday decorations are packed away, people everywhere will be seeking retribution for their self-labeled dietary transgressions. So, before you add "go on a cleanse" or "detox" or "juice fast" to your New Year's resolution list, I have excellent news for you.....

You have a liver! And this means, unless you have liver disease, your liver is already working night and day to keep you detoxified. One of the liver's main functions is to break down potentially harmful substances you ingest into excretory products. Take note: these products are excreted.  That means your liver turns waste products in your blood into substances that leave your body through your poop or pee. The waste products don't just sit there and accumulate.No need to trigger the cleansing process by drinking massive quantities of lemon juice and cayenne pepper. Thank you, metabolism.

If you are pooping and peeing on the regular, then congratulations, your body is already doing what it can to protect you from toxins. While you may have completely valid concerns for your dietary habits, don't be fooled into focusing on tasks your liver and other organs are already taking care of. That's just wasteful.


References
http://www.livescience.com/34845-detox-cleansing-facts-fallacies.html
http://www.nlfindia.com/liverZone/functions.asp
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0015941/
http://www.livescience.com/48767-juice-cleanse-myths.html
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/dec/05/detox-myth-health-diet-science-ignorance
http://www.bidmc.org/YourHealth/HolisticHealth/DietCenter.aspx?ChunkID=100544

Thanks, Mom! From A Scientist.

Dear Mom,

Like a parasite, I implanted in your uterus and immediately started demanding resources. Your body had to begin adapting quickly, in order to keep up with my rapid cell division. When you discovered what I was up to (and you had to pee on a stick to do this), you felt nothing but excitement and gratitude. Imagine! Even though I was making you feel nauseous, causing you to vomit with little warning, and zapping your energy, you didn't mind.

As I grew, so did my demands. Before I came around, your uterus had a volume of 10 mL. Over the course of my fetal development, it expanded to hold nearly 5 L. That's a 500x increase!! In order to make space for me, your organs had to shift dramatically. That's right, you moved your organs for me!  Your abdominal organs, diaphragm, rib cage -- and even your heart--- were pushed upwards by your bulging uterus. Did you complain? Maybe a little. Mostly you felt overjoyed by my growth and comforted by my bladder-crushing weight and rib-busting kicks and punches.

Your heart rate had to increase to supply me with enough blood. In fact, the amount of blood pumped by your heart during a single minute increased by 30%-50%. Your kidneys lengthened by about 1 cm to accommodate extra fluid. You required about 20% more oxygen, yet all that organ shifting left you with  a 5% decrease in lung capacity. This means you likely suffered from shortness of breath. Much of your glucose intake was used as energy for me or my placenta, requiring you to increase your caloric intake. However, due to hormonal changes, your digestion wasn't quite as efficient. It took 15%-30% longer for contents to move through your intestines (read: constipation). Not to mention, you probably had some nasty heartburn. This sounds like a recipe for feeling rather blah and a great excuse to lay around binge-watching TV. But, no, you didn't let all this discomfort slow you down. Instead, you bustled about preparing for my arrival.

Then came my birthday, triggered by excruciating uterine contractions that probably constitute the greatest pain you've ever endured. You were in labor for hours, but unlike running a marathon, no snacks were allowed! Those nurses would only give you clear fluids and ice chips due to the risk of aspiration and the inability of your digestive system to function well during labor. You were willing to let a surgeon cut through all your abdominal muscles and into your uterus to pull me out, if need be. You risked having an episiotomy (an incision to enlarge the vaginal opening). You endured all this pain so your cervix could transform from a length of 2 cm with an opening of less than half an inch, to a circular opening with a diameter of 10 cm (nearly 4 inches). Through a feat that can be described as nothing short of pushing the human body to its ultimate limits, you delivered me into this world to take my first breath. And if that weren't enough, you also had to deliver my placenta!

The anatomical and physiological sacrifices you made for my fetal development and birth make you a bad-ass superhero. But they only represent a tiny fraction of the love and sacrifice you've shown every day since.

Thanks, Mom. And Happy Mother's Day!

Love,
Your first-born F1 XX

Reference:
Beckmann, CRB, Ling, FW, Herbert, W,  Laube, DW, ,Smith, RP, Casanova, R, Chuang, A, Goepfert, AR, Hueppchen, NA, Weiss, PM. 2013. Obstetrics and gynecology. 7th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

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Break a Sweat, Not Your Bones

Happy 2014! With the arrival of the new year, your local gym is about to get a lot more crowded. If you are resolving to begin or maintain a fitness regimen, here's some motivation to break a sweat ...

While there are plenty of benefits to routine exercise, it's easy to forget that exercise is more than skin - and muscle - deep. Hey, I'll be the first to admit that my greatest motivations for heading to the gym are: 1) visions of Michelle Obama's arms and 2) grand ambitions for a firm bodonkadonk.

An often overlooked benefit of exercise is the tremendous impact it can have on your skeleton. You may feel like you have old bones, but in reality your bone cells are constantly removing old tissue and creating new bone through a process called remodeling (yes, much like home remodeling but without the steep prices) . In fact, bone remodeling occurs at such a rate that the majority of the adult skeleton is replaced every 10 years! Are you feeling younger yet?

It's easy to see how exercise affects your muscles - the more you use them the stronger they get. It may not be as obvious, but your bones respond in a similar way. Engaging in weight-bearing exercise tells your bone cells, "these bones are in high demand, let's build them up and make them stronger so they can withstand all this activity".

Though you can't flex your strong bones to show them off, just remember this: your strong bones can prevent you from developing a hunchback. Now that's a reason to keep your gym membership.