Liver Health and Menopause

Why is the liver important?

The liver has over 500 different functions that it has to perform on a regular basis. That's a huge amount. So, if you imagine that it has to do that every day, and then when everything starts to change in the menopause, it suddenly gets hit with a lot more things to do - dealing with fluctuating hormones for example.

Changes to the liver that can occur throughout the menopause transition are said to include “reductions in liver blood flow and volume as well as changes in the capacity for liver regeneration”. Studies have shown that function decreases approximately 1% per year after the age of 40 to 50 years! Paying particular attention to your liver is therefore very important.

Oestrogen has been shown to be important in regulating mitochondria’s (our cells powerhouse) function and structure especially in tissues that have a high demand for energy, such as the liver tissues. When oestrogen levels decline due to menopause this regulation is not as effective and women are more at risk of liver diseases.

What does the liver do?

• Helps to make and store energy.

• Helps to keep your blood glucose levels stable.

• Helps to clean the blood of toxins.

• Helps to make bile important for digestion.

• Your liver even helps to synthesise hormones

Signs that your liver is under pressure:

• Nausea

• Skin problems

• Bowel problems

• Fatigue

• Cravings

• Sleep issues

• Mood swings

These symptoms may sound familiar as they overlap with other conditions including the symptoms some women may experience as they transition through to menopause!

How can we look after our liver?

We can help our liver initially by avoiding the rubbish! For example reducing your caffeine intake, as well as avoiding processed foods, and those foods that are high in salt and sugar. All these types of foods will really stress the liver and make it work overtime. Did you know that it can take your liver about eight hours to process all the chemicals in one cup of coffee! That’s a long time to work for just one cup of coffee! If you have more than three or four cups of coffee a day, it is likely that your liver in overdrive all the time, never mind everything else that it has got to do.

As we all know, there are not many benefits to drinking alcohol and it is another thing that will stress the liver. In addition, the medication that we take will be another thing the liver has to process. If you take medication daily, the liver will struggle that little bit harder to detoxify the drugs themselves.

What we put on our skin, in our hair, what we wash with, will all impact how hard the liver has to work. Making sure that we are using skin care / hair care that doesn’t contain parabens etc., using organic brands will help our liver not have to process excess toxins.

This also applies to the food we eat. Making sure that our food is good quality and low in toxins will help with our liver health. Have a look at the lists updated yearly by the Environmental Working Group showing which foods contain the most chemicals (Dirty Dozen) - meaning we should try and source organically and those foods that have the fewest levels of chemicals (Clean Fifteen) so perhaps it is not necessary to choose organic version.

https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/dirty-dozen.php

https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/clean-fifteen.php

Top Tips for Helping Our Liver

• Keep toxin levels low - food, skincare, hair and body products, filtered water, consider medications

• Enjoy a diet high in fruits and vegetables esp cruciferous vegetables

• Include B vitamins in your diet – the best sources can be found in meat but also grains and legumes

• Add fibre to every meal – think veg especially leafy greens and fruit

• Include calming grains (rather than wheat) such as quinoa, millet and brown rice.

• Include liver friendly foods such as beetroot and omega 3s.

• Ensure you are hydrated - drink plenty of water daily

• Milk thistle is a particularly supportive supplement for the liver.

  LIVER FRIENDLY FOODS

• Globe artichoke.

• Cruciferous vegetables especially broccoli.

• Spices: turmeric, garlic, ginger.

• Citrus fruit: lemons.

• Beetroot.

• Protein: nuts, fish and eggs.

• Greens: dandelion, coriander, and spinach.

• Berries: blueberries.

References

Brady, C.W. (2015) “Liver disease in Menopause,” World Journal of Gastroenterology, 21(25), p. 7613. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3748/wjg.v21.i25.7613.

Trembling, P.M. et al. (2017) “Risk of chronic liver disease in post-menopausal women due to body mass index, alcohol and their interaction: A prospective nested cohort study within the United Kingdom collaborative trial of ovarian cancer screening (UKCTOCS),” BMC Public Health, 17(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4518-y.