What are the five functions of the liver?

What’s covered?

The Liver is the largest solid organ in the body, contributing about 2% of the total body weight, or about 1.5 kilograms in the average adult human. It can regenerate itself after a significant amount of tissue loss or liver damage - even after surgery that removes 70% of the tissue, it can be back to its original size in just 5 to 7 days as long as the injury is not complicated by viral infection or inflammation.

It performs many interrelated functions, and these functions of the Liver become especially evident when abnormalities of the Liver occur. Main liver functions:

The Liver is an expandable organ, and large amounts of blood can be stored in its blood vessels. Its average blood volume is about 450 ml, i.e. almost 10% of the body's total blood volume. This extra blood storage occurs mainly in cases of cardiac failure with peripheral congestion. The liver filters your blood removing foreign substances and other harmful substances such as toxins that could be harmful to your body.

The Liver is involved in the metabolism and regulation of nutrients in the body. In carbohydrate metabolism, the Liver carries out multiple functions, such as reserving energy in the form of glycogen, carbohydrates molecules into glucose, and synthesizing glucose by breaking down fats.

The Liver's essential functions in protein metabolism include the deamination of amino acids, removing ammonia from body fluids, and synthesizing plasma proteins.

The bile formed by the Liver is used in digestion to convert fat to fatty acids. Bile production is hugely important for the digestive system as the bile salts created by the liver carry fats and allow for the absorption of nutrients and within the gastrointestinal tract. They also neutralise stomach acid that would hamper the digestive process. The liver creates the bile and then it is transferred to your gallbladder and small intestine through the common bile duct.

One of the major functions of the Liver also stores vitamins. For example, vitamin A is stored in the most significant quantities in the liver, as well as vitamin D and vitamin B. Sufficient quantities of vitamins A, D, and B can be saved to prevent deficiency for up to 10 months, 3 to 4 months, and one year respectively. The exception to this is the iron used for the haemoglobin in blood which is stored as ferritin and makes up the largest portion of the body's iron.

Your liver stores vitamins and then sends them to wherever they might be. It breaks down the vitamins with bile production which allows for them to be absorbed into the body where ever they might be needed.

The substances used in the coagulation process are formed in the Liver and include fibrinogen, Prothrombin, Factor VII, and several other essential factors. The Liver requires Vitamin K for the metabolic processes of the Liver for formation of Prothrombin and factors VII, IX, and X. In the absence of vitamin K, the concentrations of all these substances decrease markedly and almost prevent blood coagulation.

Concluding Thoughts

The Liver is an essential organ in our body that plays multiple roles, like filtering and storing blood and metabolizing different nutrients. The Liver also helps in the production of bile, storage for vitamins and iron, and the formation of coagulation factors. Here are some Liver Blood tests.