The liver is one of the largest organs in the body and it carries out over 500 essential tasks.
It has many important metabolic functions. It converts the nutrients in our diets into substances that the body can use, stores these substances, and supplies cells with them when needed.
It also takes up toxic substances and converts them into harmless substances or makes sure they are released from the body. From drugs and alcohol to unknown foreign substances, the liver helps filter and detoxify the materials not meant to be in our body.
According to the National Institutes of Health, Acetaminophen induced liver damage accounts for half of the acute liver failure cases in the United States. About 1,600 U.S. cases of acute liver failure occur each year due to acetaminophen overuse. And some 500 people die each year from overdosing on the drug. Severe damage could occur if people take more than 4,000mg of acetaminophen in 24 hours.
Obviously reducing the dosage/usage of Tylenol/ Acetaminophen is best.
There are numerous natural anti-inflammatories that don’t harm the liver. These include Curcumin, Boswellia, Bromelain, CBD oil, Ginger, Cinnamon and Nutmeg to name just a few.
Fortunately the Mayo Clinic states, “The liver has the greatest regenerative capacity of any organ in the body. Liver regeneration has been recognized for many years, dating all the way back to Prometheus in ancient Greek mythology.” Even if more than fifty percent of its overall mass is damaged -- for instance, by drugs or alcohol -- it can regenerate itself completely.
There are many natural remedies that help prevent and repair liver damage from over usage of acetaminophen.
Probiotics: Researchers from Emory University say there is growing evidence that probiotics are also good for your liver. The researchers found that mice receiving the probiotic treatment suffered less liver damage when presented with an overdose of acetaminophen compared with mice that did not receive probiotics.
Milk Thistle: Another study published in the January 17th 2018 scientific journal PLOS One, researchers provided evidence that preventive treatment with silymarin from Milk Thistle herb significantly alleviated acetaminophen (APAP)-induced liver injury in mice. Based on their findings, they presumed that a substantial part of the protective effect of silymarin is the reduction of the ROS load either due to the direct scavenging activity of silymarin or due to the attenuation of production from mitochondria.
N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC) is an amino acid glutathione precursor used in the treatment of acetaminophen liver damage (hepatotoxicity). According to research published in the May 29th 2018 issue of Scientific Reports, NAC therapy is safe for treating the liver and does not alter busulphan pharmacokinetics or pharmacodynamics. Busulphan (Bu) is a myeloablative drug used for conditioning prior to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Bu is predominantly metabolized through glutathione conjugation, a reaction that consumes the hepatic glutathione.
Nutmeg: Information published in the May 2018 American Chemical Society Journal of Proteome Research, Metabolomics analyses showed that nutmeg likely protected against liver damage by restoring the mice to more healthy levels of various lipids and acylcarnitines. The research team found that a specific compound in nutmeg, myrislignan, had a strong protective effect against liver damage.
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