Which Supplements May Have An Impact On Liver Enzymes?

Fo-ti (Polygonum multiflorum) is one of the top five herbs toxic to the liver, both when used alone or in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formulations. Common non-bodybuilding supplements associated with hepatotoxicity include green tea extract and multi-ingredient nutritional supplements. Anabolic steroids, green tea extract, and multi-ingredient nutritional supplements (MINS) are major implicated agents. Bodybuilding supplements containing AAS can lead to liver damage, including severe cholestatic hepatitis, which can take months to resolve. Some common herbs could cause toxic liver disease, such as aloe vera, black cohosh, cascara, chaparral, and turmeric. Too much vitamin A can damage the liver, and vitamin pills often rely on fat. Some supplements studied include ashwagandha, green tea extract, turmeric, or curcumin. Herbal supplements and vitamin supplements like chaparral, comfrey tea, iron, and vitamin A are known to cause high liver enzymes. It is important to remember that not all supplements have a negative effect on liver enzymes. Some natural remedies, such as milk thistle, have been associated with liver damage.

What supplements can cause elevated liver enzymes?

Herbal supplements and vitamin supplements, like chaparral, comfrey tea, iron and vitamin A.

What does it mean to have elevated liver enzymes?. If you have high levels of liver enzymes in your blood, you have elevated liver enzymes. High liver enzyme levels may be temporary, or they may be a sign of a medical condition like hepatitis or liver disease. Certain medications can also cause elevated liver enzymes.

What are liver enzymes?. Liver enzymes are proteins that speed up chemical reactions in your body. These chemical reactions include producing bile and substances that help your blood clot, breaking down food and toxins, and fighting infection. Common liver enzymes include:

• Alkaline phosphatase (ALP).
• Alanine transaminase (ALT).
• Aspartate transaminase (AST).
• Gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT).

What is most damaging to liver?

• Viral infections. Viral hepatitis infections that become chronic can cause chronic hepatitis, including hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
• Alcohol-induced hepatitis. Heavy alcohol use can cause acute or chronic hepatitis. If it goes on long enough, it can cause cirrhosis and liver failure.
• Toxic hepatitis. Chronic overexposure to toxins, such as industrial chemicals or drugs, can cause acute or chronic hepatitis.
• Non-alcohol related fatty liver disease. Metabolic conditions associated with obesity, high blood sugar and high blood lipids can cause excess fat storage in your liver, which can cause inflammation ( non-alcohol related steatohepatitis ).
• Biliary stasis. Congenital (present at birth) conditions that obstruct or stall the flow of bile through your bile ducts can cause bile to build up and injure your liver, including biliary atresia and cystic fibrosis. Non-congenital causes include biliary stricture and gallstones.
• Autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune conditions can cause chronic inflammation and scarring in your liver or your bile ducts, including autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cholangitis and primary sclerosing cholangitis.
• Inherited metabolic disorders. Disorders that cause toxic products to build up in your blood — such as glycogen storage disease (GSD), Wilson disease, hemochromatosis and Gaucher disease — can cause chronic liver damage.
• Cardiovascular diseases. Conditions that affect blood flow to and from your liver — including Budd-Chiari syndrome, ischemia, arterial diseases and right-sided heart failure — can cause chronic liver damage.

What are the risk factors for acquiring liver disease?. You may be more likely to get liver disease if you:

• Drink alcohol heavily.
• Use intravenous drugs.
• Use pain relievers like aspirin or acetaminophen
• Have metabolic syndrome.
• Are regularly exposed to toxic chemicals.
• Are regularly exposed to other people’s blood or body fluids.

What should I avoid if I have high liver enzymes?

What to avoid: Don’t eat foods high in fat, sugar and salt. Stay away from a lot of fried foods including fast food restaurant meals. Raw or undercooked shellfish such as oysters and clams are a definite no-no.

A Healthy Diet, a Healthier Liver, a Healthier You. So, what should you eat to ensure that your liver can function normally?

If you’re a liver patient, your diet is adjusted to meet your individual needs. Talk to your doctor about what’s best for you. Still, here are some general food tips for a healthy or healthier liver:

• What to avoid : Don’t eat foods high in fat, sugar and salt. Stay away from a lot of fried foods including fast food restaurant meals. Raw or undercooked shellfish such as oysters and clams are a definite no-no.
• Talk to your doctor about alcohol and your liver health : Depending on the state of your liver, you should avoid alcohol. If you’re allowed alcohol, limit it to no more than one drink a day if you’re a woman and two drinks a day if you’re a man.
• Eat a balanced diet : Select foods from all food groups: Grains, fruits, vegetables, meat and beans, milk, and oil.
• Eat food with fiber : Fiber helps your liver work at an optimal level. Fruits, vegetables, whole grain breads, rice and cereals can take care of your body’s fiber needs.
• Drink lots of water : It prevents dehydration and it helps your liver to function better.

What supplements are not good for the liver?

Herbal supplements. How could something natural be bad for your liver? In fact, some common herbs could cause toxic liver disease. Watch out for supplements that contain aloe vera, black cohosh, cascara, chaparral, comfrey, ephedra, or kava.

Chemicals and solvents. Some workplace chemicals can harm your liver. Some examples are vinyl chloride, which is used to make plastics; a dry cleaning solution called carbon tetrachloride; the weed killer paraquat; and polychlorinated biphenyls.

You may be more likely to get toxic liver disease if:

• You take OTC pain relievers more than the recommended dose, with chronic alcohol use.
• You already have another liver disease, like cirrhosis, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, or hepatitis.
• You drink alcohol while you take certain medications or supplements.
• You work in a job that uses industrial chemicals that could be toxic.
• You’re older.
• You’re female.
• You have a gene mutation that affects how well your liver works.

What destroys the liver the most?

Too Much Alcohol Alcoholic fatty liver, which causes liver inflammation (alcoholic hepatitis), eventual scarring (cirrhosis) and even liver cancer, is a process that begins on as little as four drinks a day for men and two for women. By the time you show symptoms, your liver may be damaged beyond repair.

The human liver is a wondrous organ. Each day it makes bile, convertsnutrients from your diet, cleans toxins from your blood, breaks down fats, alcohol and medications, controls blood sugar and hormone levels, storesiron and much more. You shouldn’t wait for symptoms to appear to begin paying attention tothe possibility of liver disease. Here are the top five risk factors for developing liverdisease.

Exposure to Toxins. While the liver is responsible for cleaning toxins from the blood, overexposure to toxins can be harmful. Read warning labels on chemicals youuse around the house, and wash fruits and vegetables before consumption toensure you’re not digesting pesticides.

One step further: Buy clean fruits and greens. Johns Hopkins nutrition specialists recommends learning about pesticides in food production.

Can too much vitamin D cause elevated liver enzymes?

Hepatotoxicity. Neither normal nor excessively high intakes of vitamin D are associated with liver injury or liver test abnormalities. Hypervitaminosis D and vitamin D intoxication generally arise with intakes above 50, 000 IU daily, but lower doses may induce toxicity in susceptible individuals such as patients with renal osteodystrophy (secondary hyperparathyroidism), and a safer upper limit of recommended intake is 10, 000 IU daily. Symptoms of vitamin D intoxication are caused by hypercalcemia and can include dehydration, thirst, polyuria, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, constipation, fatigue, bone pains and muscle cramps. Complications can include renal dysfunction, nephrocalcinosis, decreased consciousness and seizures. Symptoms arise a few weeks to several months after starting excess doses of vitamin D given orally or parenterally. A common cause of hypervitaminosis D is the mislabeling of an over-the-counter or locally prepared nutritional supplement, excessive fortification of milk or foods, and inadvertent prescription or dispensing errors. In clinical descriptions of vitamin D intoxication, typical laboratory findings are hypercalcemia, increase in serum creatinine, and high 25-OH vitamin D levels (usually above 200 ng/mL or 500 nmol/L). Serum aminotransferase and bilirubin levels are typically normal, while alkaline phosphatase levels may actually be lower than normal.

Likelihood score: E (unlikely cause of clinically apparent liver injury).

Mechanism of Injury. Vitamin D in high doses increases absorption of dietary calcium, but also mobilizes calcium from bone. The symptoms of vitamin D intoxication are largely those of hypercalcemia. While hepatocytes, cholangiocytes, stellate cells and resident immune cells in the liver have vitamin D receptors, there is no evidence that vitamin D causes injury to the liver.

Why is my ALT high but everything else normal?

High levels of ALT in your blood may be a sign of a liver injury or disease. Some types of liver disease cause high ALT levels before you have symptoms of the disease. So, an ALT blood test may help diagnose certain liver diseases early.

What is an ALT Blood Test?. An ALT test measures the amount of ALT in your blood. This test is commonly used to help diagnose liver damage or disease.

ALT (alanine transaminase) is an enzyme, a protein that speeds up certain chemical reactions in your body. It is found mainly in your liver. Usually, you will have low levels of ALT in your blood. But when liver cells are damaged, they release ALT into the bloodstream. High levels of ALT in your blood may be a sign of a liver injury or disease. Some types of liver disease cause high ALT levels even before you have symptoms of the disease. So, an ALT blood test may help diagnose certain liver diseases early, when they may be easier to treat.

An ALT test is usually ordered as part of a group of liver function tests.

What can falsely elevate liver enzymes?

Common causes of elevated liver enzymes include: Nonprescription pain medicines, particularly acetaminophen (Tylenol, others). Certain prescription medicines, including statins, which are used to control cholesterol. Drinking alcohol.

Can magnesium cause liver enzymes to be high?

The study used a weighted variance estimation technique to analyze the relationship between magnesium intake and cardiovascular disease (CAP). The weighted chi-square test was used to evaluate group differences, while the weighted linear regression model was employed for continuous variables. The study also performed stratified multivariate regression analysis to investigate the non-linear relationship between CAP and magnesium intake. A combination of smooth curve fits and generalized additive models was used to investigate the non-linear relationship.

The results showed that higher magnesium intake was associated with older age, male predominance, non-Hispanic White race, higher education and income levels, and married/partnered marital status. Higher cholesterol levels, liver enzyme levels, serum albumin, serum creatinine, uric acid, and CAP values increased with higher magnesium intake. No significant differences were found across tertiles for BMI, smoking rates, diabetes, or hypertension prevalence.

The multivariate linear regression analysis showed a significant correlation between increased magnesium intake and decreased CAP when age, sex, and race/ethnicity were taken into account. Even after accounting for extra factors, the negative connection persisted in Model 3. The highest tertile of magnesium intake had lower CAP than the lowest tertile, demonstrating a significant linear trend.

Is magnesium bad for your liver or kidneys?

Conclusions. Magnesium status is closely linked with liver function. Liver diseases have a significant effect on body magnesium content, and magnesium levels in turn influence these disease processes. In liver cirrhosis and ALD, patients show magnesium deficiency that results from low dietary uptake, greater urinary secretion, lower plasma albumin concentrations, and hormone inactivation. Conversely, magnesium deficiency aggravates cirrhosis and ALD, and can cause liver cancer progression, due to disrupted mitochondrial function, defective PKC translocation, inflammatory responses, oxidative stress, and metabolic disorders. Magnesium supplementation can not only preserve liver function, but also slow the progression of liver disease, and reduce the mortality associated. Although these findings provide a foundation, there is still a great deal to investigate in this field. Few studies have investigated the relationship between magnesium and HCC or viral hepatitis. In addition, the reason why magnesium deficiency triggers an inflammatory response is still not fully understood, and no clinical studies have explored the therapeutic effects of magnesium in liver patients. In conclusion, this review demonstrates the importance of links between magnesium and liver function or disease, and implies that novel therapeutic approaches targeting magnesium may be used to improve liver function in the future.

Acknowledgments. Funding: The study was supported by grants from the CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences (CIFMS) (No. 2016-I2M-1-001) and the National High-tech Research and Development Projects (No. 2015AA020303).

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Is magnesium bad for your liver?

The relationship between liver cancer and body magnesium content has not been fully established, so whether liver cancer leads to reductions in serum and tissue magnesium concentrations is still unknown. However, we have shown that magnesium supplementation can protect the liver and reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with liver cancer .

An in vitro study has shown that magnesium cantharidate has an inhibitory effect on human hepatoma SMMC-7721 cell proliferation by blocking the MAPK signaling pathway. Specifically, the phosphorylation levels of C-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) decrease significantly upon treatment .

Magnesium plays a vital role in inhibiting the progression of HBV infection to hepatocellular cancer (HCC). HBV infection remains one of the most frequent cause of HCC in the world ( 80, 81 ). Once an infection is established, the viral regulatory protein hepatitis B virus X (HBx) amplifies the TGF-β signal, which works as a tumor promoter to induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), enhancing cancer metastasis and invasion by HCC. However, magnesium administration can increase the expression of protein phosphatase magnesium dependent 1A (PPM1a), blocking TGF-β signaling by dephosphorylating of p-Smad2/3, and thus preventing the transcription of specific genes needed for HCC growth .

Finally, magnesium deficiency in cancer patients increases the risk of cancer metastasis to the liver .