A healthy liver is important to us all. Your liver has a lot of different jobs to do to keep your body working well.
These are some tips from our liver specialists to keep your liver in good shape
5 ways to keep your liver healthy
1. Have a balanced diet
What does a healthy diet for your liver look like? Click the links below to learn more from the Australian experts.
Jake has mild haemophilia B. He was cured of hep C and was living with cirrhosis before he was cured
‘Now that my liver is working better, everything is better. I have as much energy as when I was 21 years old. My moods are better. I don’t get itchy, I don’t get brain fog, I feel fine after a big meal.
‘I do help my body a lot. I haven’t drunk alcohol in 14 years. I don’t smoke. I walk a lot. I eat a Mediterranean diet and don’t eat much red meat or sugar.’
2. Stay active and maintain a healthy weight
Looking for tips on how to stay active or achieve a healthy weight?
- Getting active – LiverWell (Vic)
- Exercising for your liver – Liver Foundation
- Being a healthy weight – Liver Foundation
HFA Getting Older Hub: Exercise, arthritis and balance
Exercise tips for people with bleeding disorders and joint problems.
3. Avoid or minimise alcohol intake
How much is too much alcohol? What is a standard drink? What can you do to reduce your alcohol intake?
- Drink aware – LiverWell (Vic)
- Alcohol – Liver Foundation
- Standard drinks guide – Australian Govt Dept of Health & Ageing
Alex has VWD and is cured of hep C. He had moderate liver scarring.
Some practical tips from Alex:
‘I stopped drinking altogether for a decade. The improvement in my liver function was really noticeable.
‘With alcohol the social expectation was the hardest. It was all or nothing for me. But after 10 years I saved enough cash for a deposit on a house!’
Alex’s tips
- Have an excuse for not drinking or drinking light beer – be the designated driver
- I would say ‘no, I don’t drink’ when people pressed me. And if I implied I had problems with alcohol, people would back off really quickly and say, yeah, I get it, no worries, mate.
- People often don’t question you if you already have a drink of anything in your hand.
- Ask for a dry ginger ale or a coke in a whisky glass and it looks like a scotch or a scotch and coke.
- A dry ginger ale in a pot glass with a few sips taken looks like a beer.
4. Take care of your mental health and wellbeing
How is mental health connected to the health of your liver? What can you do to improve your wellbeing?
5. Ask your doctor if you need liver health monitoring
Why would you need a liver health test or ongoing monitoring?
Liver disease is common in Australia – 1 in 3 people are affected. Quite often people are not aware that they have it until their tests show they have a liver condition.
The most common liver diseases include fatty liver, viral hepatitis and liver cancer. Checking for and preventing liver disease is important because there are very few symptoms in the early stages. But there are treatments available, in early stages the liver can often repair itself and there is also lots you can do to prevent further liver damage.
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Liver health monitoring and hep C
Have you been cured of hep C? Has your liver has recovered? If you don’t know the state of your liver health when you were cured, ask your hepatitis doctor or your GP. Find out if you need ongoing liver health monitoring.
REMEMBER
If you had cirrhosis or extensive scarring before being cured of hep C, you will still need to have a liver ultrasound scan every 6 months long-term. This is to screen for liver cancer – which has a much better outcome if picked up on screening and treated early.
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Q: Can I have gene therapy if I’ve had hep C?
A: Yes, as long as you have been cured or you are HCV PCR negative (no active virus in your blood) and your liver is showing signs that it is functioning normally.
Talk to your doctor about this and they may refer you to a liver specialist for some tests to show that your liver is healthy:
- a liver assessment with an ultrasound
- a fibrosis assessment via FibroScan® or another non-invasive assessment such as shear wave elastography or ARFI (Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse)
- and blood tests.
If you are treated with gene therapy for haemophilia, your liver function will be monitored as part of routine care.
There are things you can do to prepare your liver for gene therapy.
Fatty (steatotic) liver disease is a worldwide problem. Strategies to help with this are to have a healthy balanced diet, reduce your weight if you are overweight, moderate your alcohol intake and be as active as you can.
Another strategy is to avoid medications that are slightly toxic to your liver where possible – let your doctor know you are trying to keep an eye on your liver and ask them about medication options.
Thanks to hepatitis specialists Associate Professors Simone Strasser and Joe Sasadeusz and to haematologists Dr LIane Khoo, Dr Jane Mason and Prof Huyen Tran for their advice.