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Latest News from the KSA Wellbeing Zone

Visitors to the KSA Wellbeing Zone are being encouraged to look after their liver thanks to a national campaign.

The British Liver Trust launched the first ever national liver health campaign in the UK to raise awareness and promote good liver health.

KSA parents and staff using the online site can access information on how to keep their liver healthy and what should be avoided.

The weekly advice pack from the Wellbeing Zone contains the following information:

Your liver is the biggest organ inside your body and does hundreds of essential jobs. It works hard and can take a lot of abuse, but it is like an elastic band it can only stretch so far before it breaks. Liver disease is on the increase in the UK. It can be a silent killer, with no symptoms until it is too late. It is now the fifth largest cause of death and affects the health and wellbeing of many thousands more.

There are many causes of liver disease but two of the key threats to protect your liver against are:

Alcohol
It is a mistake to think that you have to be a heavy drinker to run into problems.

Although it can take as long as 10 to 20 years, drinking just a bit more than you should over time can seriously harm your liver. Not feeling any side effects from drinking does not mean that you are not risking chronic ill-health or lasting liver damage from alcohol-related liver disease.
How to look after your liver:

  • - Take two days off - give your liver two days in a row without alcohol every week to reduce the impact that alcohol can have on your liver and break the habit of drinking every day.

Know your units:

  • - Women should drink no more than 2 to 3 units in a day
  • - Men should drink no more than 3 to 4 units in a day
  • - Don't save up several days 'allowance' and drink it all at once

Fatty liver disease
Many of us are overweight and don't do enough exercise. Fatty deposits can build up in your liver which can cause inflammation and scarring. This is more likely to happen if you are overweight, diabetic or regularly drink too much alcohol.

For more information go to www.britishlivertrust.org.uk or log on to http://kettering.wellbeingzone.co.uk (using the organisation code KSA1) - the site is not available to under-18s.