The liver is the body's largest organ, responsible for processing and eliminating many toxins from ingested food, metabolizing nutrients, breaking down fats, and storing energy. If liver function declines, it can cause fatigue, metabolic disorders, weight gain, and increase the risk of fatty liver disease and cirrhosis.

Doctor Vu Truong Khanh, from the Department of Gastroenterology - Hepatobiliary - Pancreas at Tam Anh General Hospital in Hanoi, said many people choose "liver detoxification" products believing they can cleanse toxins. However, when the liver is healthy, the detoxification process occurs naturally without the need for detox measures. Conversely, an unhealthy lifestyle, such as excessive alcohol consumption, a high-fat diet, late nights, and lack of exercise, overloads the liver, reducing its filtering efficiency and increasing the risk of disease.

Here are some common misconceptions about liver detoxification:

Detox can cure all liver diseases.

Detox is the process of cleansing the body using natural foods and drinks to help eliminate harmful substances. Doctor Khanh said that drinking herbal remedies and liver detoxification products does not cure hepatitis, fatty liver, cirrhosis, or prevent liver cancer as many people believe. Each liver disease has different causes, stages of progression, and treatments. Detox measures cannot kill viruses, dissolve fat in the liver, or regenerate cirrhotic liver tissue.

Liver disease treatment requires following a medical regimen under the guidance of a specialist. "Over-reliance on and overuse of detox products can lead to missed treatment opportunities, causing the disease to progress rapidly and severely," Doctor Khanh said.

Fasting for many days helps the liver rest and recover.

The liver is the body's metabolic center, requiring a stable supply of nutrients to perform tasks such as breaking down fats, metabolizing sugars, and synthesizing proteins. During prolonged fasting, the body lacks energy and nutrients, forcing the liver to work harder to mobilize stored energy, break down fat and muscle tissue. This process increases the burden on the liver. Prolonged fasting causes weakness, hypoglycemia, electrolyte imbalance, arrhythmia, and liver cell damage due to a lack of essential nutrients.

A healthy diet contributes to a more efficient liver. Photo: *Tam Anh General Hospital*

Liver detoxification helps with rapid weight loss.

When following a strict detox regimen, many people may experience rapid weight loss in a short period. However, this is mostly due to water and muscle loss, not fat reduction. This weight loss method is not sustainable, and weight can easily return when resuming a normal diet, with a high risk of fatigue, dizziness, electrolyte imbalance, and overall health decline.

Many liver diseases, especially liver cancer, progress silently in the early stages and often have no noticeable symptoms. Therefore, everyone should have an annual health check-up. High-risk groups, such as those who consume a lot of alcohol, have viral hepatitis, are overweight, or obese, need regular liver checks and screenings.

Ly Nguyen