Liver Anatomy & Functions

Your liver is a life-sustaining part of your digestive system. It is required to store energy, remove waste and toxins, produce chemicals, support your immune system and metabolize food. Your body cannot function without a working liver. However, liver diseases affect millions of people worldwide.

Function

• The liver has numerous functions, most of which are related to digestion, including producing substances that break down fats, converting ammonia into urea (primary substance of urine), converting glucose to glycogen, storing minerals and vitamins, manufacturing amino acids and maintaining a proper level of glucose in your blood. In addition, your liver produces 80 percent of the cholesterol in your body and regulates blood clotting.

Features

• Your liver can hold about one pint of blood. Most of the blood that leaves the small intestines and stomach passes through your liver before traveling to the rest of your body. The blood coming from your small intestines and stomach contains fresh nutrients that your liver processes and utilizes for its numerous functions.

Identification

• The liver is an irregular cone-shaped organ composed of two large lobes that are further divided into smaller lobules. It is dark reddish-brown and is in the upper right quadrant of your abdomen, beneath the diaphragm and above the right kidney and gallbladder.

Size

• Adult humans can differ in size and so can the liver. The average weight of a healthy normal human liver is 3 pounds. It is about 15 to 17.5 cm vertically and 20 to 22.5 cm across and is slightly smaller in women than men. The right lobe of the liver is six times larger than the left lobe.

Considerations

• Your liver is vulnerable to damage from alcohol, trauma, microorganisms and medication as well as genetic diseases. The liver, however, is the only organ inside the body able to fully regenerate itself while damaged or diseased.