The liver performs 500 or so different functions, from excreting bile (helping to remove waste and important in the break down and absorption of fats in the small intestine) through to regulating blood levels of chemicals, compounds and metabolites.^10,11

Among its many roles, the liver:^10,11,12

• converts glucose into glycogen for energy storage and vice versa for energy release
• helps in the immune response by mobilising the macrophage system by immune factors
• produces blood plasma proteins
• produces cholesterol and proteins to transport lipids around the body
• processes haemoglobin
• manufactures lymph
• stores iron, vitamins and other essential compounds
• regulates amino acid levels in the blood
• makes enzymes and other proteins
• regulates blood clotting (with vitamin K)
• regulates or clears hormones
• detoxifies ammonia by converting it to urea
• clears damaged or old red blood cells and removes bilirubin (preventing jaundice).

The by-products of toxic substances broken down in the liver can either be secreted in the bile into the intestine to be excreted in the faeces or be filtered from the blood in the kidneys and excreted in the urine.