If you ever need to eat organ meat, make sure one of them is pork liver. In fact, it is recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture dietary guidelines to consume at least 5 to 6 ounces of the protein food group, in which pork liver belongs. Being protein food, pork liver consumption can provide you with the necessary macronutrients such as protein and fat. Not only that, pork liver also contain high amount of vitamins and minerals, enough to fulfill the recommended daily intake for some of the nutrients.
The only letdown of pork liver is that it contains some nutrients in really high doses, which means the risk of nutrient overdose is increased. Pork liver is also known to contains high cholesterol. Therefore, cautions indeed should be taken in consuming pork liver while also paying attention to the overall diet. With all the cautions being taken care off, you should be ready to derive some benefits from consuming pork liver. In the following paragraphs, we will list and provide some explanations on how consuming pork liver can be beneficial for your health.
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Indeed, here are the health benefits of pork liver that you need to know:
1. Boosts the Immune System
Pork liver in fact contains almost the full doses of iron and selenium, both plays the role of boosting the immune system. In doing so, both minerals work in their own unique ways. Iron plays the part of optimizing the distribution of oxygen throughout the body.
While selenium mostly acts as antioxidant which deals with thyroid glands. Adequate supply in selenium can prevent the symptoms which indicate deficiencies in immunity, including troubled sleep, fatigue and weight problems.
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2. Protects From Fatigue
When you’re doing activities which involves physical exertions, or you happen to be women in pregnancy, chances are you’re exposed to iron deficiency at some points. The lack of iron in your body might cause many other problems, ranging from fatigue, dizziness and eventually, anemia.
The presence of iron in pork liver is so great that it is often advised to consume pork liver in moderation, for fear of iron overdose. Iron can help providing the much needed oxygen throughout the body by the circulation system, thus render your bodies more resistant to fatigue. Therefore, to cover up your iron needs it is usually enough to consume pork liver three times a week.
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3. Supporting the Brain Function
Undoubtedly, almost every functions in our bodies require oxygen for them to go on. As the central nervous system in our bodies, our brains are the most demanding parts when it comes to oxygen distribution. Which is why lacking oxygen usually affect nervous system more than the other bodily functions.
The symptoms of oxygen deficiency are basically the reactions produced by the brains to sign the need for more oxygen. Ranging from yawning to more severe condition such as fainting, cognitive impairment and involuntary reflexes. Eating pork liver can provide the necessary iron, thus helping to maintain the oxygen supply needed by our brains to function. One of most unexpected health benefits of pork liver.
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4. Prevent and Treat Anemia
As discussed before in the earlier paragraphs, pork liver provides the much needed iron especially for those who are iron-deficient, or even the ones with anemia. That is because iron also serve to boost the hemoglobin productions, whose deficiencies is the main cause of anemia.
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5. Contains Many Antioxidants
The high selenium contents in pork liver is only one of its many antioxidants, and it does a pretty good job as one. Selenium plays the vital part of regulating the thyroid activities, but it also support the immunity system by fighting the free radicals by converting them into harmless compounds.
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6. Enhances Thyroid Metabolism
Thyroid glands mainly works in maintaining the metabolism rate and synthesizing protein. Selenium has specialty in dealing with thyroid glands, mainly as catalyst for the metabolism process taking place in thyroid. The metabolism itself largely depends on thyroid hormones, whose productions are stimulated by the presence of selenium.
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7. Improves Blood Flow
Being rich in iron and selenium, pork liver can do wonder to your circulation systems. Some studies concluded that low level of selenium are conversely related with cardiovascular problems, mainly caused by poor blood flow. The studies further assumed that the positive effect in blood flow might have something to do with the anti-inflammatory properties in selenium.
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8. Helps Defend Against Cancer
Being antioxidants, selenium plays important part in protecting the bodies from free radicals, some of which are carcinogenics. Selenium is also effective in protecting the DNA from mutations caused by carcinogens, which leads to tumor cells growth. Therefore, not only selenium is helpful in preventing cancer cells from growing, but also in slowing down the further growth of those which are already present.
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9. Protects from Neurodegenerative Diseases
Not only minerals, pork liver also boasts abundant amount of Vitamin B12 in its one serving. Consumptions of Vitamin B12 have been linked to maintenance of the nervous system health. It is also known that some of the neurodegenerative diseases spring up from Vitamin B12 deficiency, so one serving of pork liver is enough to keep your nervous system healthy.
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10. Acts as Mood Booster
Eldery people are more susceptible to have depressions and mood related issues because of their impaired digestive systems. One of the reasons is that their liver can no longer produce Vitamin B12 as much as they need. Deficiency in Vitamin B12 might cause reduced metabolism of certain chemical compound known as S-adenosyl methionine (SAM), which is needed for mood regulations and adaptation to stress.
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11. Maintains Cardiovascular Health
Vitamin B are one of the most needed substance to support the heart function. They work by reducing the amount of homocysteine in the blood. Homocysteine is a kind of amino acids which are considered to be a major risk factor for heart disease. Some studies even concluded that Vitamin B12 plays some part in reducing the cholesterol level in the bloodstream, and helps dealing with high blood pressures.
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12. Necessary for Hair and Skin Health
The deficiencies in Vitamin B12 is also linked with problems in cell reproduction. Some studies consider Vitamin B12 to help maintaining skin health by reducing redness, dryness, skin inflammations and blemishes. Moreover, as Vitamin B12 works by reinforcing the keratin components in our bodies, consumptions in Vitamin B12 might help strengthening hair and nails as well.
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13. Helps Protecting Vision Health
If you’re looking for alternative sources of Vitamin A, or maybe for some reason you’re averse to carrots, pork liver prove to be a solid choice. That is because just as the case with the other vitamins and minerals, pork liver also contains excessive amount of Vitamin A. Therefore, to get your daily requirements of Vitamin A on the cheap, you can’t go wrong with pork liver. This is mostly essential for those who need to maintain and repair their vision health.
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14. Promotes Cell Growth
Our bodies recover from wounds and grow by growing the cells that make up the entire bodies. To grow optimally, a substance known as glycoprotein is needed to bind the cells into soft tissues. Vitamin A has been known to support skin growth and recovery speed by providing the needed materials to form glycoproteins. It is might be a good idea to consume pork liver for speeding up your recovery as well as maintaining the skin health.
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15. Might Help Prevent Headaches
If you ever get headaches, chances are riboflavin (Vitamin B2) will be prescribed for you. That is not without reasons, because apparently high doses of riboflavin is proven to be potent treatment for headaches, including migraines. Pork liver provides the necessary vitamin B2 to help protecting you from the risk of headaches.
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16. Maintains Joint Health
Having some joint pain and joint mobility problems? Consuming pork liver might prove to be the solution. Having almost the complete set of Vitamin B Complex in its disposal, pork liver contains niacin (Vitamin B3) which in some studies is linked to lower risk of joint pains, enhanced muscle strength, and also lesser muscle fatigue.
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17. Might Help Preventing Impotence
So far, we might conclude that pork liver seems like the solution for many health problems caused by poor blood circulations. That is because iron and Vitamin B can work together as vasodilator which help improving the blood flow. Coincidentally, erectile dysfunction (also known as impotence) mainly caused by low blood flow. Which is why eating pork liver is also beneficial to prevent impotence, because the presence of niacin is often linked to improved blood flows.
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So, those are the benefits that you should expect to get from consuming pork liver. Some of the benefits are more notable than the rest because of the especially high amount of the nutrients. However, cautions and moderations remain to be the utmost prerequisites in consuming high-cholesterol food with high-dosage of vitamins such as pork liver. Though it has many health benefits of pork liver, it is best advised for pregnant women to refrain from eating pork liver due to its high dosage of vitamin A, which is associated with complications in the fetus development and the overall pregnancy cycle.
Overall, pork liver can be another alternative for your iron and vitamin sources especially for those who are deficient of the aforementioned nutrients. Thank you for reading, we hope you can learn new things about pork liver and at the same time aware of the consequences to deal with should you choose to consume it. Keep yourself healthy by maintaining things in moderation, including nutrition.
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