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Include Good Cholesterol In Your Diet; It May Help Protect Your Liver

Include Good Cholesterol In Your Diet; It May Help Protect Your Liver
Here's how HDL cholesterol is important to maintain good liver health.

A new study has found a link between good cholesterol and liver health. Read on to know how HDL cholesterol is important to maintain good liver health.

Written by Arushi Bidhuri |Updated : July 28, 2021 1:17 AM IST

If you didn't already know, the liver is a resilient organ that people ignore and do not take care of until something goes wrong. Viruses, poisonous chemicals, pollutants, and diseases can all attack your healthy liver because of its wide range of functions. People with liver disorders are typically ignorant of their condition since they have few if any, symptoms. This is the reason why including the right foods are important to maintain good liver health.

The liver plays a vital role in the body by producing and removing cholesterol. The majority of the focus on cholesterol has been on its potential for negative health repercussions. Cholesterol, on the other hand, is required for the production of hormones, vitamin D, and digestive enzymes.

HDL Cholesterol Is Important For Liver Health

According to a study published in the journal Science, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) a type of 'good cholesterol' protects the liver by suppressing inflammatory signals produced by typical gut bacteria. It is best recognised for removing cholesterol from the body and transporting it to the liver for elimination. However, researchers at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, discovered that when HDL3 is formed in the colon, it protects the liver from inflammation and injury. If these bacterial signals are not inhibited, they move from the intestine to the liver, where they activate immune cells, causing an inflammatory response that leads to liver damage.

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Gwendalyn J. Randolph, Professor of Immunology at the University's School of Medicine said, "Even though HDL has been considered 'good cholesterol,' drugs that increase overall HDL levels have fallen out of favour in recent years because of clinical trials that showed no benefit in cardiovascular disease. But our study suggests that raising levels of this specific type of HDL, and specifically raising it in the intestine, may hold promise for protecting against liver disease, which, like heart disease, also is a major chronic health problem."

How Food Affects Your Liver?

In mice and human blood samples, HDL3 from the gut was found to protect the liver against inflammation. Any type of intestinal damage can have an impact on the way Gram-negative bacteria affect the body. These microorganisms create lipopolysaccharide, an inflammatory chemical that can move to the liver via the portal vein. After food is absorbed in the gut, the portal vein is the main blood channel that delivers blood to the liver, and it transports most nutrients to the liver.

Gut microbe-derived substances may travel with nutrients from food, activating immune cells and causing inflammation. As a result, parts of the gut microbiome may play a role in liver illness, such as fatty liver disease and liver fibrosis, in which scar tissue forms in the liver. "We are hopeful that HDL3 can serve as a target in future therapies for liver disease. We are continuing our research to better understand the details of this unique process," Randolph said.