Liver damage due to improper detoxification

Traditional methods of cooling and detoxifying the liver, such as detox, using leaves or unproven remedies, can damage the liver faster.

Dr. Le Thanh Ly - Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Liver and Bile Association said that cooling the liver is a folk term referring to the effects of foods, plants or medicines that reduce symptoms of liver heat such as acne, hives, itching, indigestion, insomnia... However, symptoms are only part of the basis for diagnosing the disease. Using this word-of-mouth method can relieve some symptoms but does not completely solve the root cause. It can even make the disease worse because of missing the time for active treatment.

Many people also mistakenly think that detoxification can also be applied to the liver. According to Dr. Ly, the detoxification process only partially eliminates toxins through the kidneys, intestines, lungs, lymph and skin. Using cool water or cleansing tea, if effective, only helps people feel temporarily cool, but does not affect the liver - the organ that carries out the main detoxification process of the whole body.

Traditional methods of cooling and detoxifying the liver, such as detox, using leaves or unproven remedies, can cause premature liver damage.

This is easily seen through 1,500 questions sent to the program "Anti-poison, detoxification, liver protection consultation" currently taking place on VnExpress. Many readers wonder why they have drunk many types of cool water, herbs (green tea, artichoke, bitter melon, lemon, turmeric, honey...), actively detoxed and used products that are said to cool the liver, detoxify the liver but are not effective. On the contrary, the disease is getting worse.

Mr. Thuan (38 years old, Khanh Hoa) had hepatitis 2 years ago, took liver detoxification medicine recommended by an acquaintance but did not see any improvement, his body became thinner due to loss of appetite. Mrs. Kim Xuan (59 years old, Hanoi) was worried that she drank detoxifying leaf water every day but her liver enzyme test still doubled. In the case of Ms. Nguyen Phuong (Binh Duong), she was worried: "I heard that using detox methods such as drinking a few liters of sugar water mixed with lemon every day will help eliminate toxins. However, using it for many days makes me very tired."

Professor, Doctor, Doctor Nguyen Khanh Trach - President of the Vietnam Internal Medicine Association recommends that people should not detoxify the liver arbitrarily. Word-of-mouth methods can harm this organ. Long-term use can lead to many dangerous diseases such as inflammation, cirrhosis, and even liver cancer.

"After drinking, all types of leaf juice and herbal medicine go to the liver to be metabolized and eliminated. This process can introduce harmful substances that cause liver disease. More dangerously, drinking such herbal medicines can mask the symptoms of the disease, making the patient subjectively think they are cured without actively treating them, missing the effective treatment stage," said Professor Trach.

Many people arbitrarily use traditional medicine or "liver cooling, liver enzyme lowering" products without scientific verification. Reports from the US and Sweden show that 17% of cases of acute liver failure are caused by arbitrary use of drugs in general. More than 900 drugs and toxic substances have been recorded to cause damage to this organ. The prognosis for patients with acute liver failure due to drug reactions is 60-80%. Among them, many liver cooling and detoxifying drugs have not been verified for safety.

The arbitrary use of herbal remedies and leaves increases the risk of impurities or toxins that may be present in them, which will cause the liver to take more damage. This further reduces the liver's ability to detoxify, leading to many dangerous liver diseases such as hepatitis, cirrhosis, and even cancer.

Professor Trach said that liver poisoning is an inflammatory reaction of the liver to toxins entering the body. Common symptoms include acne, fatigue, loss of appetite, bloating, jaundice... Choosing clean food, abstaining from alcohol, quitting smoking, getting adequate rest, exercising regularly... are methods that need to be done regularly.

According to Giadinh.net