Find Out Which Organ Is Most Important

As we continue our look at the digestive process, we need to examine these two organs. So let's peel back that fatty layer of digested mashed potatoes and take a look inside.

Your Liver: Break Down

If you allow us a quick diversion from medicine to mythology, we want to quickly tell the story of Prometheus. This poor fellow gave fire to the humans. His punishment from the Greek god Zeus for committing such a crime: He was chained to a rock, where a vulture would peck out his liver. Amazingly, the liver would regenerate overnight. How did the Greeks know of the liver's power? Maybe it was because they survived injuries to the organ in battle. While the Greeks were onto something, we're pretty certain that they didn't have as much insight into the liver as the scientific world does today.

Maroon and shaped like a boomerang, the liver is the second largest organ in the body (the skin always steals this glory). The reason why it's so vital is that it serves as your body's border inspection station. Virtually every nutrient we consume, whether it has a valid passport or not, must pass through the liver so it can be transformed into a different biochemical form. That transformation is what allows the nutrient to be used, transported to a different location in the body, or stored as an extra inch of blubbery goop on your thighs.

Structurally speaking, here's what you need to know about the liver. It's located just below the right rib cage in the upper right side of the abdomen, above the pancreas and the small intestine. Your liver does three main things: helps digest stuff, make proteins, and gets rid of bad stuff.

All of the blood that has visited your small intestines flows through your portal vein into your liver, so almost all of the nutrients you eat have to pass through the gauntlet of the liver before passing to the heart for generalized distribution. Why "almost"?

There's a little absorption in your mouth and under your tongue, but almost means 99 percent for the typical person. Your liver decides what gets kept out, what gets patted down and inspected, and what's allowed in to be distributed throughout your body.