Did you know that your liver and your brain talk to each other? That’s what a group of researchers at Yale University found out. And what they discovered could change how we see our health.
The Connection Between Liver and Brain
They found out that liver scarring, also known as fibrosis, can be linked to changes in the brain. It might even make our brains smaller in some areas.
This liver scarring often happens in long-term liver diseases. The researchers think that inflammation, which is when parts of the body become red, swollen, and sometimes painful, could be causing this.
Brain and Body, Hand in Hand
It’s becoming more clear to scientists that the health of our brain and the health of our body are tied together. One can affect the other.
“There’s not this split between brain-based disorders and other types of physical health,” says Dustin Scheinost, one of the researchers on the study.
Diseases like liver disease and heart disease can have effects on the brain. And brain disorders can also have effects on the body.
How Did They Find This Out?
The researchers used data from a large project called the UK Biobank. This project collected health data from more than half a million adults.
With this data, the researchers could see if there was a connection between liver scarring and the brain.
The Findings
They looked at data about liver scarring, brain function, and brain size. They found that people with liver scarring generally had worse brain function and smaller brains in some areas than healthy people.
These areas included the hippocampus, thalamus, striatum, and brain stem. These parts of the brain are involved in memory and thinking.
What Could Be Causing This?
The researchers saw that inflammation could be part of the reason why liver scarring and brain health are connected.
They found that a marker of inflammation, a molecule called C-reactive protein, was higher in people with liver scarring. This might show that inflammation could be part of the link between the liver and brain.
What Does This Mean for Us?
The findings mean that we should be watching our liver health closely, especially if we have liver disease.
“Early-stage liver fibrosis is a reversible syndrome, and our current study suggests that early surveillance and prevention of liver disease may reduce cognitive decline and brain volume loss,” says Rongtao Jiang, another researcher on the study.
This could mean that preventing liver disease could help delay diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Taking Care of Yourself
These findings show us how important it is to take care of our whole selves. Our physical health, mental health, and brain health are all tied together.
Looking after one aspect can help the others. “In some ways it’s about taking care of yourself as a whole.
Any piece of the puzzle you can address is probably going to have other downstream effects and benefits,” says Scheinost. So, let’s do our best to take care of our liver, our brain, and our overall health.
If you care about brain health, please read studies about how the Mediterranean diet could protect your brain health, and Omega-3 fats and carotenoid supplements could improve memory.
For more information about brain health, please see recent studies about antioxidants that could help reduce dementia risk, and higher magnesium intake could help benefit brain health.
The study was published in eBioMedicine.
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