Medical Uses and/or Benefits
As a source of iron. Liver is an excellent source of heme iron, the organic form of iron in
meat that is absorbed approximately five times more easily than nonheme iron, the inorganic
iron in plants.
Adverse Effects Associated with This Food
Increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Like other foods from animals, liver is a significant
source of cholesterol and saturated fats, which increase the amount of cholesterol circulating
in your blood and raise your risk of heart disease. To reduce the risk of heart disease, the
National Cholesterol Education Project recommends following the Step I and Step II diets.
The Step I diet provides no more than 30 percent of total daily calories from fat, no
more than 10 percent of total daily calories from saturated fat, and no more than 300 mg
of cholesterol per day. It is designed for healthy people whose cholesterol is in the range of
200–239 mg/dL.
The Step II diet provides 25–35 percent of total calories from fat, less than 7 percent
of total calories from saturated fat, up to 10 percent of total calories from polyunsaturated
fat, up to 20 percent of total calories from monounsaturated fat, and less than 300 mg cho-
lesterol per day. This stricter regimen is designed for people who have one or more of the
following conditions:
Existing cardiovascular disease
High levels of low-density lipoproteins (LDLs, or “bad” cholesterol) or low
levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDLs, or “good” cholesterol)
Obesity
Type 1 diabetes (insulin-dependent diabetes, or diabetes mellitus)
Metabolic syndrome, a.k.a. insulin resistance syndrome, a cluster of risk fac-
tors that includes type 2 diabetes (non-insulin-dependent diabetes)Vitamin A poisoning. Vitamin A is stored in the liver, so this organ is an extremely rich
source of retinol, the true vitamin A. In large doses, retinol is poisonous. The RDA for a
woman is 2,310 IU; for a man, 2,970. Doses of 50,000 IU a day over a period of weeks have
produced symptoms of vitamin A poisoning; single doses of 2,000,000–5,000,000 IU may
produce acute vitamin A poisoning (drowsiness, irritability, headache, vomiting, peeling
skin). This reaction was documented in early arctic explorers who ate large amounts of
polar bear liver and in people who eat the livers of large fish (shark, halibut, cod), which may
contain up to 100,000 IU vitamin A per grams. In infants, as little as 7.5 to 15 mg of retinol
a day for 30 days has produced vomiting and bulging fontanel. In 1980 there was a report
of chronic vitamin A intoxication in infants fed 120 grams (4 ounces) of chicken liver plus
vitamin supplements containing 2000 IU vitamin A, yellow vegetable and fruits, and vita-
min A-enriched milk every day for four months. Liver should not be eaten every day unless
specifically directed by a physician.
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