Re: eating liver.

[Guest guest]

--- In , " repent_kog_is_near "

<repent_kog_is_near@...>

wrote:

> Is the Liver more like a filter or does it hold on the all the toxins

> that the chickens/animals get into, also.

I don't have a precise answer, but I eat only mail order, grass fed beef liver

for this reason.

[Guest guest]

Don't know if I'm right or not but I've heard that most " toxins " are

stored in our fat, not liver. This was explained by a teacher who is

very against fasting. Her take is that you get that happy feeling

because all the toxins hit you at once when you fast. That is her

reason for believing that fasting is unhealthy.

Belinda tossing in her 2 cents

>

> > Is the Liver more like a filter or does it hold on the all the toxins

> > that the chickens/animals get into, also.

>

> I don't have a precise answer, but I eat only mail order, grass fed

beef liver for this reason.

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

--- Dan <repent_kog_is_near@...> wrote:

> Is the Liver more like a filter or does it hold on the all the

> toxins that the chickens/animals get into, also. I realize Liver is

> a very nutrient-dense food, but is it also toxic-dense, at the same

> time.

Dan, one of the many functions of the liver is to neutralize toxins,

but the liver does not store toxins:

The Liver Files

http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/liver.html

" One of the roles of the liver is to neutralize toxins (such as drugs,

chemical agents and poisons); but the liver does not store toxins.

Poisonous compounds that the body cannot neutralize and eliminate are

likely to lodge in the fatty tissues and the nervous system. "

However, if an animal has constant exposure to toxins from it's diet,

these toxins may still be in the liver at death because of the

constant detoxification process. So, it's better to eat liver from

pastured animals as much as possible.

> The reason I say this way is, we often hear of patient's liver

> damaged by some strong anti-biotic, or alcohol destroying a person's

> liver etc.

Yes, we can get liver damage from a variety of toxins, including many

medications, like statins:

Toxic hepatitis

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/toxic-hepatitis/DS00811/DSECTION=3

> Well, animals feeds(mainly fowl's) are often cheap stuff with many

> refined & soy/corn kind of products. How do they affect the liver of

> the chicken, and is there any effect for us to eat it's liver.

Be very careful about chicken livers because some conventional

chickens are still fed arsenic and it does show up in the liver:

Chicken: Arsenic and antibiotics

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/food/food-safety/animal-feed-and-food/animal-\

feed-and-the-food-supply-105/chicken-arsenic-and-antibiotics/

" The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates arsenic

levels in drinking water, has more stringent limits than the FDA. A

few of our chicken-liver samples had an amount that according to EPA

standards could cause neurological problems in a child who ate 2

ounces of cooked liver per week or in an adult who ate 5.5 ounces per

week. "

Arsenic In Chicken Production

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/government/85/8515gov2.html

=====================================================

Roxarsone—4-hydroxy-3-nitrobenzenearsonic acid—is by far the most

common arsenic-based additive used in chicken feed. It is mixed in the

diet of about 70% of the 9 billion broiler chickens produced annually

in the U.S. In its original organic form, roxarsone is relatively

benign. It is less toxic than the inorganic forms of arsenic-arsenite

[As(III)] and arsenate [As(V)]. However, some of the 2.2 million lb of

roxarsone mixed in the nation's chicken feed each year converts into

inorganic arsenic within the bird, and the rest is transformed into

inorganic forms after the bird excretes it.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, long-term exposure

to inorganic arsenic can cause bladder, lung, skin, kidney, and colon

cancer, as well as deleterious immunological, neurological, and

endocrine effects. Low-level exposures can lead to partial paralysis

and diabetes. " None of this was known in the 1950s when arsenicals

were first approved for use in poultry, " says Ellen K. Silbergeld, a

toxicologist at s Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public

Health.

Three different pathways exist by which roxarsone in chicken feed can

contribute to human arsenic exposure. Roxarsone, or its breakdown

products, ends up in chicken meat and adds to the dietary intake of

arsenic; roxarsone excreted in chicken litter contaminates land and

groundwater after the manure is spread on cropland; and the large

amounts of poultry litter made into fertilizer pellets for home

gardens and lawns contaminate homegrown produce with arsenic and

expose the consumer to arsenic dust.

=====================================================

Most chickens, even most organic chickens, are given feed that has

soy, although it's not clear what effect that may have on the eggs and

chicken that we eat. To be safe, it's probably better to find eggs

and chicken that were not fed soy and are supplemented with organic

feed. The pesticides in non-organic grains could add to the toxic

load in the chicken liver.

[Guest guest]

I thought I read something about selenium, that it bound with mercury

but locked it in the liver seems like indefinately; so that would be

one example of the liver storing toxins and not just getting rid of

them. That said, the form of the mercury/selenium molecule was

supposed to be mostly non-reactive; so I guess that would make it

harmless but still I'd rather not eat it.

Also wasn't there a thread here awhile ago about soaking liver in

lemon water a while before cooking to draw the toxins out, especially

if it wasn't organic??

> > Is the Liver more like a filter or does it hold on the all the

> > toxins that the chickens/animals get into, also. I realize Liver

is

> > a very nutrient-dense food, but is it also toxic-dense, at the

same

> > time.

>

> Dan, one of the many functions of the liver is to neutralize toxins,

> but the liver does not store toxins:

>

> The Liver Files

> http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/liver.html

> " One of the roles of the liver is to neutralize toxins (such as

drugs,

> chemical agents and poisons); but the liver does not store toxins.

> Poisonous compounds that the body cannot neutralize and eliminate

are

> likely to lodge in the fatty tissues and the nervous system. "

>

> However, if an animal has constant exposure to toxins from it's

diet,

> these toxins may still be in the liver at death because of the

> constant detoxification process. So, it's better to eat liver from

> pastured animals as much as possible.

>

> > The reason I say this way is, we often hear of patient's liver

> > damaged by some strong anti-biotic, or alcohol destroying a

person's

> > liver etc.

>

> Yes, we can get liver damage from a variety of toxins, including

many

> medications, like statins:

>

> Toxic hepatitis

> http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/toxic-hepatitis/DS00811/DSECTION=3

>

> > Well, animals feeds(mainly fowl's) are often cheap stuff with many

> > refined & soy/corn kind of products. How do they affect the liver

of

> > the chicken, and is there any effect for us to eat it's liver.

>

> Be very careful about chicken livers because some conventional

> chickens are still fed arsenic and it does show up in the liver:

>

> Chicken: Arsenic and antibiotics

> http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/food/food-safety/animal-feed-and-

food/animal-feed-and-the-food-supply-105/chicken-arsenic-and-

antibiotics/

> " The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates arsenic

> levels in drinking water, has more stringent limits than the FDA. A

> few of our chicken-liver samples had an amount that according to EPA

> standards could cause neurological problems in a child who ate 2

> ounces of cooked liver per week or in an adult who ate 5.5 ounces

per

> week. "

>

> Arsenic In Chicken Production

> http://pubs.acs.org/cen/government/85/8515gov2.html

> =====================================================

> Roxarsone—4-hydroxy-3-nitrobenzenearsonic acid—is by far the most

> common arsenic-based additive used in chicken feed. It is mixed in

the

> diet of about 70% of the 9 billion broiler chickens produced

annually

> in the U.S. In its original organic form, roxarsone is relatively

> benign. It is less toxic than the inorganic forms of arsenic-

arsenite

> [As(III)] and arsenate [As(V)]. However, some of the 2.2 million lb

of

> roxarsone mixed in the nation's chicken feed each year converts into

> inorganic arsenic within the bird, and the rest is transformed into

> inorganic forms after the bird excretes it.

>

> According to the Environmental Protection Agency, long-term exposure

> to inorganic arsenic can cause bladder, lung, skin, kidney, and

colon

> cancer, as well as deleterious immunological, neurological, and

> endocrine effects. Low-level exposures can lead to partial paralysis

> and diabetes. " None of this was known in the 1950s when arsenicals

> were first approved for use in poultry, " says Ellen K. Silbergeld, a

> toxicologist at s Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public

> Health.

>

> Three different pathways exist by which roxarsone in chicken feed

can

> contribute to human arsenic exposure. Roxarsone, or its breakdown

> products, ends up in chicken meat and adds to the dietary intake of

> arsenic; roxarsone excreted in chicken litter contaminates land and

> groundwater after the manure is spread on cropland; and the large

> amounts of poultry litter made into fertilizer pellets for home

> gardens and lawns contaminate homegrown produce with arsenic and

> expose the consumer to arsenic dust.

> =====================================================

>

> Most chickens, even most organic chickens, are given feed that has

> soy, although it's not clear what effect that may have on the eggs

and

> chicken that we eat. To be safe, it's probably better to find eggs

> and chicken that were not fed soy and are supplemented with organic

> feed. The pesticides in non-organic grains could add to the toxic

> load in the chicken liver.

>

>

>