what do folks think about eating liver?

Factual Questions
#1

when i was young my mother served liver and i had to eat it cause it was good for me. i learnt to like it…

ok, i think liver has all sorts of vitamins and minerals and protein etc, but it is also the body’s detoxifying gland.

so, does this mean it is chock full of toxins, toxic agents that it has filtered from the bloodstream? does this mean that when you eat (cow, sheep, goat, pig etc.) liver you are in fact consuming toxic materials?

PS. the liver i do eat is from home grown pastured goats, we live in the mountains.

#2

The liver detoxifies by converting toxic organic molecules into non-toxic ones (or ones that can be, and are, easily excreted). It does not store toxins (at least, no more than any other part of the body does).

#3

I love liver. Liver is GOOD. Especially certain kinds, like, I dunno, duck and geese livers…

#4

Good with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

#5

My mum was also a huge “eat liver” person. Of course she and my dad ate all kinds of organ meats. Yech!!

I must admit I love the smell of liver and onions, but I’ll pass on actually eating it

#6

well that makes me feel better; i just had some fresh liver for lunch.

#7

I prefer it cooked.

#8

I knew a guy named Johnson who ate it all the time.

#9

Also a good source of cholesterol.

#10

The worst food for cholesterol is brains. Which is why zombies end up going around moaning “Lipitor! Lipitorrrr!”

#11

Same as OP. But when I learned about the function of liver I stopped eating it.

#12

I love my mother’s liver and onions, but never met another version that’s not overcooked and mealy.

#13

I prefer my liver in pâté form, but I’ve no worries about its function.

#14

It’s the Fram oil filter of the body. Not eating it.

#15

Likening it to a filter is daft. If it was like the oil filter in your car, it would need changing frequenttly. It doesn’t, because it’s not a filter. Are we fighting ignorance here or just parroting it?

#16

I like liver.

I call them ‘filtration units’. I like filtration units with onions, and maybe some bacon.

#17

I say ‘filtration units’ because I think it’s funny.

#18

In regard to my original query, i am reading one theory which says that a liver turns toxic material into non-toxic matter which is then eliminated through the organs of elimination.

The other theory states that the liver accumulates these toxins as in “automobile oil filter”. Which would mean eating liver is not a good idea.

any clarification possible?

#19

I love liver, but one caveat:

The liver stores vitamin A. Vitamin A in too large doses is toxic. Carnivore livers (and omnivores like humans who eat lots of meat) have toxic levels of vitamin A. Never eat a carnivore’s liver, and if you are a cannibal, only eat the livers of vegetarians!
:smiley:

#20

The theory supported by scientific research is that while the liver is the most important detoxification organ in the body, its function is to break down toxins to molecules or compounds that can be excreted through urine. There’s not storage of toxins in the liver that is not also performed by fat cells throughout the body.

The theory supported by vaguely remembered lessons on the liver, combined with an aversion to the taste and texture of liver, and/or by the random imaginative process of proponents of various subsets of alternative medicine, is that it functions as an oil filter.

I know what type of support I like my theories to have.