Detoxification Pathway in Liver Phase 2
The liver is the most important organ in the body when it comes to removing the toxins from your body. It also produces red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the rest of your body. The liver's primary detoxification role is to take harmful substances such as fat, alcohol and caffeine and turn them into less harmful substances that can be excreted in the urine or bile. Phase two of liver detoxification, also called the conjugation pathway, is an extension of phase one and is the final step in the liver's detoxification process.-
Your Liver Works Hard for You
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The liver is able to detoxify substances through chemical reactions, transforming harmful substances into less harmful substances until they can be secreted. If you have an unhealthy liver due to excessive alcohol consumption, poor diet or even too much caffeine, you will have many days of nausea, stomach pain, diarrhea and even malnutrition.
There are two phases of liver detoxification. The phase one detoxification process occurs when a toxic substance enters the liver. The liver neutralizes or converts the toxic substance using oxidation, reduction and hydrolysis. If the liver is overloaded with toxic substances, the free radicals that are produced by the liver can actually damage liver cells.
In reality, a toxic overload in either phase of liver detoxification can cause several side effects that are difficult to diagnose even by a gastroenterologist. A patient might be fine one day, and then be sick the next with symptoms similar to the flu or a stomach virus, leaving him to wonder what he have consumed over the past few days and which substance caused the reaction. In some cases, a patient or doctor may not initially consider a problem with the liver until other diagnostics are investigated.
Phase Two of Liver Detoxification; Kicking Out the Bad Stuff
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In phase two of liver detoxification, the liver cells add substances such as cysteine, glycine or a sulphur molecule to the toxic substance to further neutralize the substance. This process turns the harmful substance into a water-soluble substance that can easily be excreted by the body.
The six phase two pathways are glutathione conjugation, amino acid conjugation, methylation, sulfation, acetylation and glucuronidation. To complete these pathways, the liver cells require amino acids that contain sulphur such as taurine and cysteine. Other needed substances include glycine, glutamine, choline and inositol.
To avoid overloading your liver, eat natural foods from all four food groups---refraining from consuming too many harmful substances over a long period of time---while receiving nutrition in the form of vitamins B12, E and C, as well as plenty of calcium. The government nutritional site at MyPyramid.Org has information regarding which foods you should eat and in what amounts.
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