The Liver Connection: Hormones, Skin & Digestion

The liver is an incredible organ and has over 500 functions but is often overlooked.  It is important for us to understand its vital processes, which are constantly running in the “background” of our body and how it has an impact on common health problems such as hormonal imbalances, skin and digestive issues.  

Some of its roles are to break down chemicals, alcohol and drugs, deactivate hormones, regulate blood sugar levels, produce bile for healthy digestion, detoxify environmental toxins, carry out waste to be eliminated, and many more.  

The liver is our primary detox organ, but we live in a highly toxic world these days, consuming poor diets, surrounded by environmental toxins and living high stress lives.  This way of life, far different from our ancestors, is putting too much burden on the liver and our elimination pathways can’t keep up with the amount of toxins coming in.  In other words, gallstones are blocking the liver’s bile ducts, which can be described as a balloon full of marbles. A chronically unwell person would likely have thousands of these stones congesting the bile ducts of their liver.

The liver can also be overloaded with toxins, parasites, infections, excess hormones, cholesterol sludge, yeast, bacterial biofilm and stones.  It is worth highlighting that liver stones are made up of high amounts of fatty acids and cholesterol, so it doesn’t show up well on medical scans like gallbladder stones would, as these have high mineral/calcium content, which can be picked up better.

These days, due to our westernised diet and lifestyle, as well as gallstones in the liver, the average person doesn’t produce the amount of bile flow we need.  Bile flow is so important as it carries toxins out of the body, via our stool, where the body recirculates the bile and starts again.  When too many toxins build up in the bile, it struggles to expel it all, collecting more toxins on each recycle, becoming thick and poisonous and contributing to a slow functioning liver and health issues.

When the liver struggles to detox and produce and process bile as it should, this influences our health in various ways.  I will focus on how this can show up in hormonal imbalances, menstrual disorders, skin issues such as eczema and psoriasis and digestive issues. 

The liver and hormones

Our daily energy levels can also be a reflection of our liver’s health as it’s using all its energy on detoxing.  We may experience hormonal imbalance symptoms such as fatigue, losing or gaining weight, irregular periods, and mood swings, which can be related to a sluggish liver.  The liver breaks down and deactivates cortisol and hormones such as thyroid and oestrogen, but when our liver cannot function optimally, it results in excess hormones in the body, which then recirculate.  An overloaded liver, with oestrogen dominance especially, can influence the irregularity of menstrual cycles, infertility, the development of fibroids, endometriosis, premenopausal bone loss and osteoporosis, thyroid dysfunction, and more.  A liver functioning well would likely reduce some of these high oestrogen symptoms such as bloating, weight gain and PMS. 

One of the roles of the liver is to also convert the thyroid hormone from inactive T4 (thyroxine) to active T3 (triiodothyronine), and if it cannot do this to the best of its ability, our thyroid may not be regulated and this can also influence our energy levels, mood, and impact our metabolism.  Candida overgrowth can also affect this conversion from T4 to T3 which ends up in the liver, but the liver then produces Hesperin, which is anti-fungal, to deal with the candida, and unfortunately affects the T4 to T3 conversion, which shows up as thyroid and metabolism issues.

The liver and skin

Skin issues are often a reflection of our internal health.  The liver’s role in filtering out toxins that contribute to acne, rashes, and other skin conditions is fundamental.  But when it can’t perform this role well and is overburdened by toxins, it tries to eliminate them through the skin as the second detox organ, which can show up as eczema, acne, dermatitis, psoriasis, rashes, hives and other breakouts.  These can also be aggravated by an overwhelmed liver struggling to also clear inflammation from the body.

One of the liver’s functions is to produce bile, which is necessary for absorbing certain vitamins such as A, D, E and K which are fat soluble and aid in good skin health.  If we can’t absorb these well, this can lead to puffiness, dark circles or dry and dull skin.  This poor absorption can lead to nutritional deficiencies too, which affects more than just the skin, as it is often one of the root causes of chronic illnesses as well.  

Touching on hormonal imbalances again and its connection to the liver, when the liver cannot function well and process the androgen hormone, it creates excess androgen, which can show up as breakouts or acne on the skin, which highlights the many important roles of the liver.  

The liver and digestion

The liver doesn’t just work as a filter, but it also contributes to efficient digestion and plays a large role when it comes to fats.  The liver produces bile, which is a green-yellow type fluid stored in the gallbladder.  When we eat fats, this bile is released into our small intestine and is necessary for digestion.  The role of bile is to break down large fat balls, which makes it easier to digest and absorb.  If our fat can’t be absorbed or broken down well, it stays in the intestines, which is also not beneficial for our digestive health.  If we lack bile, or if the bile flow is not working optimally, our body will struggle to digest fats which can show up as bloating, acid reflux, indigestion, floating stools, and nutrient deficiencies and problems digesting fatty foods.  Andreas Morritz also lists other digestive issues such as diarrhoea, constipation, clay coloured stool, food cravings, low appetite and gassiness.  Trapped toxic bile is another common cause for many digestive issues, as it disrupts bile production and flow working smoothly, and compromises the liver’s function, our digestive health and overall health.

An overloaded liver could also create difficulties with bowel movements and expelling toxic waste from our colon, which not only affects our digestion but our overall health.  This is why it is important to do more than just a colon cleanse to get the colon working as it should, as it comes back to being a liver issue.

To summarise, a liver functioning well and healthy bile flow are crucial for optimal health.  We have seen how the liver is responsible for so many processes, and if anything interferes with it, our overall health suffers due to how the body is so interconnected.  One of the main reasons that people don’t recover well from certain illnesses are from gallstones in the liver, and one way we can address this is to flush them out through detox work.  By supporting our liver, expelling these toxins and working at the root cause, the body would likely show much better results instead of medicating for single issues.  A healthy diet, hydration, regular movement and detoxing could also keep it functioning well. 

Written by Emma Gray, certified Detox Practitioner through The Detox Practitioner's School. Connect with Emma HERE.