Ray Peat on the Liver

Short answer: For Ray Peat the liver decides how much stress the rest of the body has to carry. A well-fed liver stores glycogen, converts thyroid hormone, and clears estrogen, endotoxin and serotonin. A starved or hypothyroid liver lets all of them build up.

What Ray Peat wrote about the liver

A healthy liver inactivates practically all the estrogen that reaches it, mostly by joining it to glucuronic acid. Source: Tissue-bound estrogen in aging

That glucuronic acid is made from stored glucose. A liver with glycogen can inactivate toxins. A liver without it cannot, and estrogen accumulates even before any scarring is present. Source: Hot flashes, energy, and aging

Protein is needed for the liver to eliminate estrogen. Source: Multiple Sclerosis and other hormone related brain syndromes

The amount of active thyroid hormone, T3, that the liver produces depends mainly on how much glucose is available. Source: Glucose and sucrose for diabetes

The liver has several ways to detoxify endotoxin and serotonin from the gut, but they fail with poor nutrition and low thyroid function. Source: Serotonin: Effects in disease, aging and inflammation

Excess estrogen and low thyroid function also limit the liver's ability to make albumin, the protein that holds fluid in the blood. Source: Eclampsia in the Real Organism: A Paradigm of General Distress Applicable in Infants, Adults, Etc

For alcoholic liver disease he cites research in which saturated fats reversed the damage and unsaturated fats worsened it, and in which glycine protected against fat accumulation. Source: Fats, functions & malfunctions

He disputed the claim that fructose is uniquely to blame for fatty liver. Source: Sugar issues

What he suggested in practice

• Enough sugar and protein to keep the liver stocked with glycogen.
• Thyroid function.
• A raw carrot daily to reduce what the liver has to clear from the gut.
• As a food: liver about once a week. He calls it a rich source of B vitamins and the oily vitamins, but notes it can suppress thyroid function if eaten more often.
• Coffee, which he connects with healthier liver enzymes.

Where he wrote about it

This topic comes up in 87 of the articles on his site. These are the most relevant ones:

• Fats and degeneration · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Food-junk and some mystery ailments: Fatigue, Alzheimer's, Colitis, Immunodeficiency · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Glycemia, starch, and sugar in context · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Stem cells, cell culture, and culture: Issues in regeneration · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Vitamin E: Estrogen antagonist, energy promoter, and anti-inflammatory · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Fats, functions & malfunctions · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Caffeine: A vitamin-like nutrient, or adaptogen. Questions about tea and coffee, cancer and other degenerative diseases, and the hormones · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Hot flashes, energy, and aging · original on raypeat.com ↗

My take

If you are low carbing, your liver is busy making glucose out of amino acids instead of detoxing. That process is driven by cortisol and produces ammonia. Enough carbs, animal protein and B vitamins keep it clearing estrogen and endotoxin.

Quick answers

What did Ray Peat say about the liver?

That it needs glycogen, protein and thyroid hormone to inactivate estrogen, endotoxin and serotonin, and that it produces the body's active thyroid hormone in proportion to available glucose.

How often did Ray Peat suggest eating liver?

About one meal a week. He describes liver as rich in vitamins but able to suppress thyroid function if eaten more often.

What did Ray Peat say about fatty liver?

He disputed the idea that fructose is to blame and pointed to research on unsaturated fats, saturated fats and glycine in liver injury.