You know, drinking and staying up late is very harmful to the liver, but how can food resist the temptation at present? We have noticed that many young people's health preservation methods are "staying up late, drinking the strongest wine and taking the most expensive medicine." A friend asked: Is it harmless to eat liver-protecting tablets?
Can liver protection tablets be eaten after all? Is it useful to eat it? Let me tell you in detail here.
Health care and liver protection tablets: safe and nontoxic, similar to placebo.
Hugan tablet has been widely used in clinic since it was approved for marketing by 1987. The prescription of Hugan tablets in China is made by Professor Yu Shuchun, a Chinese pharmacy expert, according to the compatibility principle of Xiaochaihu decoction and Yinchenhao decoction in Treatise on Febrile Diseases, combined with the research results of modern pharmacy and clinical experience in treating liver diseases. It is mainly composed of Schisandra chinensis, Bupleurum chinense, Herba Artemisiae Scopariae, Radix Isatidis, pig bile powder, mung bean, etc.
The combination of Radix Bupleuri and Herba Artemisiae Scopariae has the effects of soothing liver, clearing away heat and promoting diuresis. Radix Isatidis and pig bile powder can help Radix Bupleuri and Herba Artemisiae Scopariae to clear away heat and detoxify; Schisandra chinensis and mung bean strengthen the power of clearing away heat and toxic materials without hurting yin. The combination of various drugs has the functions of clearing away heat and toxic materials, soothing the liver and regulating qi, invigorating the spleen and promoting digestion, and reducing transaminase, and is mainly used for chronic hepatitis and early cirrhosis.
In addition, there are many Chinese herbal medicine liver-protecting tablets on the market, including some liver-protecting drugs listed as health products abroad, whose main components are milk thistle and artichoke.
Silybum marianum, an annual or biennial herb in Compositae, is mainly distributed in Europe, Mediterranean, North Africa and Central Asia. As a natural liver-protecting drug, it has the characteristics of definite liver-protecting effect and little toxic and side effects, but its disadvantages are poor water solubility and low bioavailability.
Artichokes originated in the Mediterranean and were originally considered as a weed. Nowadays, supermarkets in foreign countries are all ready-to-eat vegetables, and the safety is beyond doubt.
Clinical hepatoprotective drugs: There are many kinds, please follow the doctor's advice.
Anti-inflammatory and liver-protecting drugs: these drugs can inhibit inflammatory reaction, have anti-allergic and inhibit calcium influx. Patients should regularly monitor electrolyte, blood sugar, blood pressure and other adverse reactions when taking it.
Representative drugs: magnesium isoglycyrrhizinate injection and diammonium glycyrrhizinate enteric-coated capsules.
Detoxification and liver protection drugs: This kind of liver protection drugs can provide sulfhydryl or glucuronic acid for the liver, which can enhance the detoxification function of chemical reactions such as oxidation, reduction and hydrolysis of the liver, or complex heavy metals to convert toxic substances into hydrates, which are excreted through urine or bile, so as to reduce the damage of harmful substances to the liver and thus play a role in protecting the liver.
Representative drugs: glucuronolactone, glutathione, tiopronin, penicillamine, etc.
Drugs to promote liver cell regeneration: These drugs can accelerate the repair of liver cells, restore the damaged liver function and enzyme activity to normal, and thus promote liver cell regeneration.
Representative drugs: hepatocyte growth-promoting factor, polyene phosphatidylcholine, etc.
Drugs for promoting energy metabolism: These drugs can promote the energy metabolism of liver cells and maintain the normal activities of various enzymes needed for metabolism.
Representative drugs: vitamins, coenzyme, potassium magnesium aspartate, etc. It should be noted that vitamins are mainly water-soluble vitamins, including vitamin C and vitamin B complex. Vitamin C is reducible, which can reduce the fatty degeneration of liver cells, while vitamin B complex participates in the metabolism of sugar, fat and protein in the body. However, when the dose of fat-soluble vitamins is large, it will increase the burden on the liver and is generally not applicable.
Cholesterol hepatoprotective drugs: These hepatoprotective drugs can promote bile secretion and reduce cholestasis.
Representative drugs: ursodeoxycholic acid, anethole trisulfide, adenosylmethionine, etc.
Chinese herbal medicines and their extracts: under the guidance of the basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese herbal medicines have the functions of resisting virus, reducing jaundice, reducing enzymes, resisting liver fibrosis, improving liver function, regulating immune function and improving clinical symptoms.
Representative drugs: silymarin, glycyrrhizin, Sophora flavescens, Schisandra chinensis, etc.
It is worth mentioning that glycyrrhizin, also known as glycyrrhizic acid, is the general name of mixed substances with high sweetness and low calorific value extracted from licorice roots, and various liver-protecting drugs made from it are widely used to treat various liver diseases. Studies have shown that glycyrrhizin can inhibit the movement of hepatitis B virus surface antigen through Golgi region in cells, thus improving the liver dysfunction of patients with hepatitis B. In addition, glycyrrhizin can effectively reduce the probability of liver cirrhosis or liver cancer in patients with chronic hepatitis.
Stay up late, drink less and eat healthily, which is the right way to protect the liver.
For patients with viral hepatitis, liver-protecting drugs mainly play an auxiliary role, and the fundamental treatment lies in fighting the virus.
For patients with drug-induced liver injury, nonalcoholic fatty liver and alcoholic fatty liver, appropriate liver-protecting drugs should be selected according to the etiology to alleviate the symptoms.
For patients with fatty liver, we should start with lifestyle adjustment, balanced diet, moderate exercise and reducing fat and weight. Reduced glutathione/polyene phosphatidylcholine can be added to patients with obvious abnormal liver function.
Healthy people with normal liver function do not need special liver protection. As the "material metabolism center" of human body, everything we eat needs to be metabolized by liver and kidney, and so does medicine. Excessive drugs beyond the body's needs will increase the body's metabolic burden.
If the public wants to protect the liver, it is necessary to fundamentally realize that the real protection of the liver is to stay up late, drink less and eat healthily without increasing the metabolic burden of the liver. Staying up late drinking and eating expensive liver protection tablets can't protect the liver from the source.
Author: Guo Hui (pharmacist of Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital)