Question about eating Liver

[samy23]

Is it really safe to be eating chicken/beef etc livers? Doesn't it detox the body or something? ...meaning all the animal's toxins end up inside the liver? And then to consume that....would be ick? wouldn't those toxins then be inside us?

[GoBecGo]

Well, a lot of toxins end up in fat, and the kidneys MAKE urine, so is it also "ick" to eat them? The kidneys and liver are filters, not dustbins, the toxins they filter out are excreted in urine and faeces, so yes, IMO they are "safe" to eat. In addition the liver especially is nutritionally dense due to the nature of its job, so again i think it's a good thing to eat. However lots of people do find them "ick" so i suppose ymmv

[BarnMomma]

The liver is safe to eat provided it comes from a healthy animal- as in a cow that eats only grass or pasteured chickens.

Actually, it's very healthy for you from these sources.

[mambera]

Originally Posted by GoBecGo

Well, a lot of toxins end up in fat, and the kidneys MAKE urine, so is it also "ick" to eat them? The kidneys and liver are filters, not dustbins, the toxins they filter out are excreted in urine and faeces, so yes, IMO they are "safe" to eat.

The liver modifies the toxins so that they can be easily excreted. It doesn't store them up.

[samy23]

Originally Posted by mambera

The liver modifies the toxins so that they can be easily excreted. It doesn't store them up.

yeah, but that means there are toxins in the liver all the time, being "modified so they can be excreted", so when the liver is removed from an animal, the toxins it was busy modifying etc...are still inside it. no?

[spughy]

Originally Posted by samy23

yeah, but that means there are toxins in the liver all the time, being "modified so they can be excreted", so when the liver is removed from an animal, the toxins it was busy modifying etc...are still inside it. no?

That's an argument for organic/pasture-raised animals, not an argument against liver. The benefits of eating liver (vitamins, minerals, quality protein and other nutrients) far outweigh whatever minor toxin load there may be in quality liver - in much the same way that the benefits of breastfeeding outweigh the fact that breastmilk contains environmental toxins, too.

[spughy]

Also I don't think that toxin concentrations are necessarily higher in the liver - it's not like it has toxin storage capacity, it's just that the circulatory system runs the blood through the liver and toxins are extracted and excreted at about the same rate. In other words, I don't think the liver *stores* toxins it can't deal with, they probably just stay in the blood. I doubt the toxin level is any higher in the liver than in other tissues.

Ok now I'm interested, going to go look this up. Also, going to pull some liver out of the freezer for dinner.

[mambera]

Originally Posted by samy23

yeah, but that means there are toxins in the liver all the time, being "modified so they can be excreted", so when the liver is removed from an animal, the toxins it was busy modifying etc...are still inside it. no?

To the same extent that there are toxins in other tissues throughout your body that don't happen to be undergoing modification at the moment.

[motheringforme]

I've read that the benefits outweigh the risks, and I like the fact that it is easy for my toddler to chew.