JANUARY is Love Your Liver month, a national awareness campaign from the British Liver Trust aimed at encouraging the nation to look after their bodies and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

The body can receive a hard time over the Christmas break but the beginning of the year is the time to take a fresh look at life.

And according to Professor Aftab Ala, a consultant gastroenterologist and hepatologist at Spire Clare Park Hospital in Crondall, the first step people can take towards a healthier liver is to re-think their alcohol consumption.

“Taking part in campaigns such as ‘Dry January’ is a great way to start but I always urge people to use that as a stepping stone towards a healthier attitude to alcohol throughout the year,” said Professor Ala.

“The liver really is a remarkable organ with a fantastic capacity for regeneration but people still manage to ‘take it beyond the limit’ when it comes to alcohol intake.

“In some circumstances, particularly in individuals who may be overweight or diabetic, the threshold for serious damage from alcohol is surprisingly low (as low as two bottles of wine per week) and continued harmful drinking can lead to liver damage that is beyond repair.”

But because it is such a ‘forgiving’ organ people do tend to take it for granted, Professor Ala explained.

“Two or three days a week abstinence is an achievable target that can really benefit liver health, as can keeping a record of the number of drinks you have throughout the week,” he said.

Healthy diet is another step people can take to keep the liver in shape as more and more evidence points to a link between liver health, diet and the blend of bacteria living inside a person’s bowel.

If anyone is concerned about the state of their liver there are lots of simple ways that people can check to see whether there is any evidence of damage – including the FibroScan tests as recommended by NICE and special blood work.

“It’s better to seek help rather than ignore changes that, in the early stages, are often completely reversible.

“Hopefully the Love Your Liver campaign will give people the springboard they need to make changes to their lifestyle but I hope they stick with at least some of those changes for much more than a month,” concluded Professor Ala.