WEBVTT

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There's a factory inside you 
that weighs about 1.4 kilograms

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and runs for 24 hours a day.

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This is your liver,
the heaviest organ in your body,

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and one of the most crucial.

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This industrious structure 
simultaneously acts as a storehouse,

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a manufacturing hub,

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and a processing plant.

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And each of these functions involve 
so many important subtasks

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that without the liver, 
our bodies would simply stop working.

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One of the liver's main functions 
is to filter the body's blood,

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which it receives in regular shipments 
from two sources:

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the hepatic artery 
delivers blood from the heart,

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while the hepatic portal vein 
brings it from the intestine.

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This double delivery 
fills the liver with nutrients,

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that it then sorts, processes and stores


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with the help of thousands 
of tiny internal processing plants,

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known as lobules.

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Both blood flows also deliver the oxygen 
that the liver needs to function.

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The blood that is received 
from the intestine

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contains carbohydrates, fats,

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and vitamins and other nutrients 
dissolved in it

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from the food you've consumed.

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These must be processed in different ways.

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In the case of carbohydrates,

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the liver breaks them down 
and converts them into sugars

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for the body to use as energy 
when the filtered blood is sent back out.

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Sometimes the body 
has leftovers of nutrients

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that it doesn't immediately require.

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When that happens, 
the liver holds some back,

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and stacks them in its storage facility.

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This facility works like a pantry

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for future cases when the body 
might be in need of nutrients.

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But the blood flowing into the liver
isn't always full of good things.

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It also contains toxins
and byproducts that the body can't use.

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And the liver monitors these strictly.

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When it spots
a useless or toxic substance,

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it either converts it into a product 
that can't hurt the body

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or isolates it and whisks it away,

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channeling it through 
the kidneys and intestine to be excreted.

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Of course, we wouldn't consider 
the liver a factory

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if it didn't also manufacture things.

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This organ makes everything 
from various blood plasma proteins

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that transport fatty acids 
and help form blood clots,

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to the cholesterol 
that helps the body create hormones.

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It also makes vitamin D
and substances that help digestion.

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But one of its most vital products 
is bile.

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Like an eco-friendly treatment plant,

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the liver uses cells called hepatocytes

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to convert toxic waste products 
into this bitter greenish liquid.

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As it's produced, bile is funneled 
into a small container below the liver,

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called the gallbladder,

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before being trickled into the intestine

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to help break down fats, destroy microbes,
and neutralize extra stomach acid.

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Bile also helps carry other toxins 
and byproducts from the liver

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out of the body.

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So as you can see,

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the liver is an extremely efficient 
industrial site,

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performing multiple tasks 
that support each other.

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But such a complex system 
needs to be kept running smoothly

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by keeping it healthy

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and not overloading it 
with more toxins than it can handle.

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This is one factory 
we simply can't afford to shut down.