8 liver-friendly foods to add to your diet, as majority of cancer cases preventable
We all know the importance of eating healthily for our heart, gut, and brain – but there are some foods that are especially beneficial for your liver health, too.
Despite the liver's status as a vital organ that performs a number of important bodily functions, including removing toxins and fighting infection, it's easy to forget about looking after it. But recent statistics highlight the importance of prioritising your liver health.
Experts say that three in five liver cancer cases "are linked to preventable risk factors, mostly viral hepatitis, alcohol and obesity", but have raised concerns that cases caused by alcohol and obesity will increase in the coming years.
According to The Telegraph, scientists predict that, by 2050, around 21% of liver cancers will be caused by alcohol and 11% will be caused by a severe form of fatty liver disease, which occurs when excessive fat builds up in the vital organ.
Last year, analysis by Cancer Research UK revealed that the number of people dying from liver cancer had almost doubled in the last 20 years. The disease is now responsible for the deaths of 58,000 people in the UK each year, twice the rate recorded in the late 1990s.
Cancer Research UK said the figure is projected to continue rising by a further 10% by 2040, warning that liver cancer will have killed around 135,000 people by then.
While part of the rise in deaths has been driven by a growing British population, lifestyle factors also play a major role. Katrina Brown, senior statistics manager at Cancer Research UK, told The Independent that around half of all cases are preventable.
Drinking alcohol and smoking are key drivers of the increasing number of cases, as well as being overweight or obese. Brown added: "The notable thing for liver cancer is overweight and obesity is a key risk factor, and that has been steadily increasing in the UK – around two-thirds of UK adults are overweight and obese."
The number of people who have died with an underlying cause of liver disease in England has also risen in recent years. According to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), this figure rose to 10,127 from 9,218 in 2019, increasing further to 10,521 cases in 2021.
Eating a healthy, well-balanced diet is important to protect your liver and keep it in good shape for longer. Certain foods have been found to enhance liver function, while others can help prevent or reverse liver damage, according to various studies.
Here are eight liver-friendly foods to incorporate into your daily diet:
1. Leafy greens
Leafy greens like spinach and kale are rich in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, which can help protect the liver from oxidative damage. A 2019 study found that the chlorophyll in leafy greens also have detoxifying properties, which can help reduce liver toxicity.
2. Garlic
While the phrase 'there's no such thing as too much garlic' may not be strictly true, eating garlic does come with health benefits. Garlic contains sulfur compounds that improve liver enzyme activity, as well as anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, which can reduce oxidative stress in people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, one study suggested.
3. Beetroot
Bright red beetroot is known to help with high blood pressure, as it's rich with dietary nitrates. This root vegetable also contains betalains, a type of antioxidant, and compounds that may support liver detoxification by increasing the liver's production of detoxifying enzymes.
4. Turmeric
Curcumin, the active compound in turmeric, has strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. A clinical trial published in the journal Hepatology showed that curcumin supplementation reduced liver inflammation in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
5. Green tea
A 2006 study, published in the International Journal of Molecular Medicine found that green tea extract improved liver function and reduced fat accumulation in the organ. This is believed to be thanks to the antioxidants called catechins that green tea is rich in.
6. Cruciferous vegetables
Cruciferous vegetables refer to vegetables like broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower. They are rich in fibre and vitamins, as well as glucosinolates, which researchers believe stimulate the production of detoxifying enzymes in the liver and protect against oxidative damage.
7. Lentils and beans
Experts often sing the praises of lentils and beans as a nutritious source of fibre and protein that is suitable for vegetarians and vegans. But that's not all – the high fibre content in lentils and beans can contribute to helping reduce liver fat accumulation and improving liver function.
8. Artichokes
Researchers published a study in Phytotherapy Research that found artichoke extract, which contains cynarin, can aid in improving liver function. Cynarin is a compound known to stimulate bile production, which can helps with the detoxification process and protects liver cells.
Read more about diet and nutrition:
I'm a nutritionist on a budget and here's how I get my five-a-day for much less (Yahoo Life UK, 6-min read)
9 cheap, healthy and easy meal ideas with less than 6 ingredients (Yahoo Life UK, 9-min read)
5 ultra-processed foods you shouldn't stop eating (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
These medications could save thousands of lives – but doctors aren't prescribing them
In 2021, varenicline, the most effective single drug for quitting smoking, was withdrawn from the market in the UK because impurities were found at greater levels than is considered safe. Rapidly, varenicline (then sold under its brand names, Champix and Chantix) became unavailable. This was a disaster for public health. Research from University College London estimated that varenicline being unavailable resulted in about 1,890 more avoidable deaths each year because fewer people were successfully quitting smoking. But there was hope. Cytisine (also known as cytisinicline), a naturally occurring plant-based product that had been used for decades in Eastern Europe, and more recently to great effect elsewhere in the world, was licensed in the UK and made available from January 2024. Even so, there was an extended period when neither were available to people trying to quit smoking in the UK (and in other countries, too). But in the UK at least, things were looking up. Based on a limited but growing body of evidence, cytisine probably works as well as varenicline at helping people quit smoking, and it may be better tolerated with fewer side effects. It may also appeal to more smokers who may want to use a natural product rather than a drug designed in a lab. So, with varenicline withdrawn and a similarly effective treatment available, we should have seen lives saved as people who would have taken varenicline were encouraged to try cytisine instead. Why isn't anyone prescribing it? This didn't happen. Cytisine – despite now being licensed and available in the UK – is still shockingly underused. Since January 2024, only 0.2% of people trying to quit smoking have used it (the same proportion that used it in 2018, when it wasn't even officially available in the UK). Official NHS data from people accessing stop-smoking services in England confirm that only 0.7% were prescribed cytisine in 2024. So why is this? High-profile trials continue to show cytisine's effectiveness for quitting smoking (and even for quitting vaping). Maybe cytisine's relatively complex dosing schedule puts people off. Cytisine starts with six pills a day (one every two hours) and gradually tapers off over a few weeks: more confusing and less convenient than one-a-day varenicline. Another possibility is that the public's attention has shifted. With so much focus in recent years on vaping as a smoking cessation aid, prescription drugs for smoking cessation may have fallen off the radar. It could also be that GPs are reluctant to prescribe cytisine because of its cost and the assumption that local authorities should pay for it, not primary care. While it was once hoped that due to its low-cost availability in Eastern Europe, it would become the 'aspirin of smoking cessation drugs', the licensed product in the UK is now as or more expensive than other drugs. But the simplest explanation is probably the most accurate: not enough people know about cytisine. People who smoke, GPs, pharmacists and even stop-smoking services may not know it's an option. And if no one is talking about it, no one is prescribing it. And even if they do know about it, there may be a lack of confidence in using or prescribing it because it is a new drug. That's a problem. The UK government has made the shift from treating illness to preventing it a central part of its health strategy. Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the country and the world. If we're serious about prevention, then effective smoking cessation support must be top of the agenda. Now, varenicline is available again (without its brand names and reformulated to remove the impurities). This is welcome news, but only 1.1% of past-year smokers reported using varenicline. That's only a quarter of the number from before its withdrawal. This raises an important question: should we return to prescribing varenicline by default, or is it time to consider cytisine as a first-line treatment? Researchers are continuing to learn more about cytisine, but as the evidence in favour of cytisine grows, maybe it needs a PR campaign for both prescribers and people who smoke. None of this is to say that cytisine is a miracle cure, or that it will work for everyone. But that's true of every way to help people quit smoking. Quitting smoking is hard, and people trying to quit need more options, not fewer, and those options need to be visible and accessible. Jonathan Livingstone-Banks is a Lecturer & Senior Researcher in Evidence-Based Healthcare at the University of Oxford. Dimitra Kale is a Senior Research Fellow in Health Psychology at UCL. Lion Shahab is a Professor in Health Psychology at UCL. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
If you feel the weather in your bones, this might be why
Some people don't need a weather app - they feel the forecast in their bones. A storm rolls in and so do throbbing heads, aching joints and mood drops. For years, this phenomenon was dismissed as imagination or coincidence. Now, with sharper tools and larger datasets, more researchers are taking weather-related symptoms seriously. As former Agriculture Department chief meteorologist Albert Peterlin put it: 'It's not the weather. It's the change in weather that causes stress.' Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. Sudden swings in atmospheric pressure, humidity and temperature can lower blood oxygen saturation, the amount of oxygen your red blood cells carry, while also triggering hormonal fluctuations and cardiovascular strain - biological changes many people experience before a storm breaks, according to researchers. Falling pressure activates the autonomic nervous system and heightens pain sensitivity in people with chronic conditions, according to studies in Brain Research Bulletin and PLoSOne. The nervous system's fight-or-flight response has been linked to increased anxiety and disrupted sleep. The term for this emerging field is meteoropathy: the study of physiological reactions to environmental changes, especially barometric shifts, that disrupt circulation and rattle the nervous system. Meteoropathic illness is not yet a formal diagnosis, but more scientists are finding evidence for it. 'Doctors have long minimized these complaints as subjective,' says Sarah Mulukutla, a neurologist and adjunct professor at Yale. 'But that doesn't mean imaginary.' Evidence shows that atmospheric instability influences hormone levels, shifts that affect how pain is processed and may explain migraine attacks, joint stiffness and fatigue. - - - Cumulative effects of weather stress Pain doctors are witnessing these effects firsthand. Pavan Tankha, who leads pain recovery at the Cleveland Clinic, says chronic discomfort often worsens during weather instability. One of his patients experiences intense pain flare-ups during spring storms. 'We're observing a weather-sensitive pain phenotype,' or patients who are sensitive to atmospheric swings, Tankha says. 'These effects aren't random. They're cumulative,' says Vincent Martin, director of the University of Cincinnati's Headache and Facial Pain Center. His team found that lightning within 25 miles of a home increases migraine risk by 31 percent. Both rising and falling air density can provoke migraines and tension headaches. A 2023 Japanese study using a barometric pressure-tracking app analyzed over 336,000 headache events alongside weather records. It found that pressure drops, spikes in humidity and rainfall are strongly associated with increased headaches, confirming what many long suspected. Thanks to apps, symptom monitoring is getting smarter. Users log symptoms alongside atmospheric data, and the app learns their storm signature - a unique pattern of weather changes, such as rising pressure or dropping temperature, linked to how their body responds. The personalized approach is catching on in the United States. Peterlin built on that model, creating three-day forecasts and collaborating with pharmaceutical teams on weather-based treatments. Wearable fitness and health technology products like the Apple Watch and Whoop help researchers map the body's invisible reactions to weather in real time. According to Artificial Intelligence Review, wearable sensors can now detect early signs of cardiovascular strain, stress and even mood instability. So, what's happening inside the body? As storms approach, air weight declines and humidity rises. Pain receptors, or nerve endings in joints, muscles and tissues that detect stress, pressure or temperature shifts, send signals through the spine to the brain, where pain and emotion register. The receptors may fire in response to shifts in intracranial pressure sensed by the brain, sinuses and carotid arteries. 'Even slight shifts disrupt balance,' says UCLA neurologist Alan Rapoport, especially for migraine sufferers. (Some 12 percent of people in the United States, primarily women, are said to experience migraines.) A broader view reveals just how much these fluctuations affect us. The State of Global Air report connects climate-driven changes in air quality, temperature and humidity to increased health risks across systems. The bigger the change, the stronger the body's response. 'I don't need to check the forecast. I feel it in my head,' says Susan Cucchiara, a New York-based naturopathic doctor. She hydrates, walks and supplements with magnesium. 'It's about supporting your whole system.' Others echo that sentiment. Laurie Krupa, a patient of Cucchiara's in New Jersey, says before storms, 'pain would flare in my knees, hips and whole body, not just my head.' Today, she finds relief through movement, minerals and nutrition. Weather can hit us hard. Cold fronts, low pressure and damp air may cause tissues to swell and joints to stiffen. The Arthritis Foundation notes that many people with arthritis experience flare-ups during weather changes, particularly when humidity rises or air pressure drops. The Annals of Medicine linked these shifts to increased osteoarthritis pain. Animal research also indicates that high humidity increases inflammatory cytokines, exacerbating joint discomfort. 'Stress, mood and inflammation all interact,' says Terence Starz, retired professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. He notes that tools like the Weather & Arthritis Index help patients anticipate and manage pain episodes. Even the brain isn't immune. The Journal of Physiology reports that high altitude can alter cerebral blood flow. Changes in air density also occur in pressurized flights and incoming storms. 'When air gets lighter, the brain can swell,' which contributes to headaches, says Rapoport. Those most vulnerable usually have a family history of migraine, often compounded by insomnia, stress or hormonal shifts. Baltimore psychologist Andy Santanello offers a deeper insight: 'Weather used to mean danger: cold, scarcity, stress. Our nervous system evolved to react.' The body still carries that ancient imprint. The weather-health connection isn't new. In 1947, physician William F. Petersen proposed that environmental stressors could cause headaches - a theory once dismissed is now supported by neuroscience, real-time data and AI. 'Even Hippocrates wrote about this,' says Peterlin, the former USDA meteorologist. 'Now science is finally proving it.' - - - Help for managing symptoms The weather may be unpredictable, but your body can learn to move with it. Experts recommend: Keep a journal. Tracking your symptoms daily alongside weather patterns may help predict flare-ups. 'With patterns comes predictability,' says Rapoport. Hydrate and supplement. Rapoport also recommends magnesium and riboflavin (Vitamin B2) to reduce migraine frequency. Talk to your doctor. Move gently. Tai chi, walking and yoga improve circulation and joint flexibility. Starz advises staying active but listening to your pain cues. Practice mindfulness. Breathwork and meditation help regulate the nervous system. Mulukutla uses both in treating chronic pain. Use wearables. Tools like the Apple Watch, Whoop, Migraine Mentor and N1-Headache help track patterns and atmospheric shifts. Be proactive. On sensitive days, prioritize sleep, limit stress and reduce screen time. These days, when the weather turns and my body knows it, I stretch, hydrate, rest - and check flights to somewhere sunnier. Related Content Pets are being abandoned, surrendered amid Trump's immigration crackdown The Post exposed this farmer's struggle. Then the USDA called. Kamala Harris will not run for California governor, opening door for 2028 run Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
The disease which takes 3.5 years to diagnose after symptoms start
A disease that affects almost one million people in the UK takes around 3.5 years to diagnose, researchers have found. Dementia sufferers have to wait a lengthy time from the onset of symptoms to an official diagnosis. And some people with early-onset dementia have an even longer wait of just over four years. A new study by UCL researchers is the first systematic review and meta-analysis of global evidence examining time to diagnosis in dementia. READ MORE: Learner drivers 'struggling to pass' as three Midland test centres among the UK's toughest The researchers reviewed data from 13 previously published studies which took place in Europe, US, Australia and China, reporting data on 30,257 participants. The study, published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, investigated the average interval between symptom onset rated by patients or family carers using interviews or medical records to the final diagnosis of dementia. Lead author, Dr Vasiliki Orgeta, said: "Timely diagnosis of dementia remains a major global challenge, shaped by a complex set of factors, and specific healthcare strategies are urgently needed to improve it. "Other studies estimate that only 50-65% of cases are ever diagnosed in high-income countries, with many countries having even lower diagnostic rates. 'Timely diagnosis can improve access to treatments and for some people prolong the time living with mild dementia before symptoms worsen.' In a pooled meta-analysis of 10 of the included studies, the researchers found that it typically takes 3.5 years from the first alert of symptoms to a patient receiving a diagnosis of dementia, or 4.1 years for those with early-onset dementia, with some groups more likely to experience longer delays, a spokesperson for UCL said. They found that younger age at onset and having frontotemporal dementia were both linked to longer time to diagnosis. While data on racial disparities was limited, one of the studies reviewed found that black patients tended to experience a longer delay before diagnosis. Dr Orgeta said: 'Our work highlights the need for a clear conceptual framework on time to diagnosis in dementia, developed in collaboration with people with dementia, their carers, and supporters.' Dr Phuong Leung (UCL Division of Psychiatry) said: 'Symptoms of dementia are often mistaken for normal ageing, while fear, stigma, and low public awareness can discourage people from seeking help.' Professor Rafael Del-Pino-Casado, of the University of Jaén, Spain, said: 'Within healthcare systems, inconsistent referral pathways, limited access to specialists, and under-resourced memory clinics can create further delays. For some, language differences or a lack of culturally appropriate assessment tools can make access to timely diagnosis even harder.' Dr Orgeta added: 'To speed up dementia diagnosis, we need action on multiple fronts. Public awareness campaigns can help improve understanding of early symptoms and reduce stigma, encouraging people to seek help sooner. "Clinician training is critical to improve early recognition and referral, along with access to early intervention and individualised support so that people with dementia and their families can get the help they need.' The NHS lists common early symptoms of dementia as: memory loss difficulty concentrating finding it hard to carry out familiar daily tasks, such as getting confused over the correct change when shopping struggling to follow a conversation or find the right word being confused about time and place mood changes
