It is also the most multifariously busy organ in the body, with functions so vital that if it shuts down, you will be dead within hours. Among its many jobs, it manufactures hormones, proteins, and the digestive juice known as bile. It filters toxins, disposes of obsolescent red blood cells, stores and absorbs vitamins, converts fats and proteins to carbohydrates, and manages glucose—a process which is so vital for the body that its dilution for even a few minutes can cause organ failure and even brain damage. (Specifically the liver converts glucose into glycogen—a more compact chemical. It
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