You can’t detox the liver, the liver is your detox

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Editor's note: Liver cleanses do not work. You read that right. Now, let me explain. A young man, Kishore, in his early 30s, was flummoxed. He couldn’t believe his ears when I confirmed his liver cirrhosis. He had consumed almost four standard drinks of liquor every day for the past seven years along with his friends. His friends were well and good, but Kishore noticed his face had been getting darker over the past six months, and his feet were swollen. He felt tired most of the time, and his appetite was low. Kishore waited a few weeks to see if his symptoms would go away. When they instead worsened, even after he stopped drinking, he finally mustered up the courage to get his blood work done. Investigations showed classic features of underlying liver disease—his haemoglobin was low (i.e. anaemia), and his red blood cells were abnormally large, which is a condition called megaloblastic anaemia, associated with low folic acid levels and notable in chronic alcohol users. Kishore’s platelet counts were also low (thrombocytopenia), and an ultrasound scan of his abdomen showed …