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The Benefits of Liver, Cod Liver Oil, and Desiccated LiverAugust, 2005 by Chris Masterjohn
Liver: Yet Another Unsung Hero
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The following three off-site articles tell the story of liver, from its health value, to how to cook it and make it taste good. Following our review of each, we provide a guide to buying liver near you, finding the healthiest and best-tasting cuts, and how to procure liver-derived supplements to add to your diet if you'd rather not eat liver itself, such as cod liver oil and desiccated liver capsules.
To skip to the these recommendations, please click
here.
The Liver Files
Liver doesn't just contain cholesterol-- it contains more nutrients, gram for gram, than any other food. In "The Liver Files," Lynn Razaitis takes you on a tour through the world's use of, and praise of, liver.
For thousands of years liver has been regarded as a source of strength and healing in many cultures, and even revered as sacred in some. This article provides a table comparing the nutritional value of different types of liver, recipes from around the world, and refutes the worries of the supposed "dangers" of liver.
The most fascinating part of this article may be its uncovering of a long-ignored controlled study finding that a mysterious "anti-fatigue factor" in liver was able to sustain a group of swimming rats for a minimum of five times the control group! Rats receiving a standard diet or a standard diet plus B vitamins could swim for hardly more than 13 minutes; but rats receving a standard diet plus liver powder swam for a minimum of an hour, and most were still swimming at the 2-hour mark when the study was concluded! It's time to toss out the red bull and make use of this power-house food for a meal that will add vitality to your entire day.
The Vitamin A Saga
Vitamin A is to liver what baseball and apple pie are to America. Liver is both famed and frowned upon for its vitamin A content, and is the number one source of this powerful nutrient.
In this in-depth, lengthy, and thoroughly fascinating article, Sally Fallon and Mary Enig, PhD, take you on a tour through the exciting history of the discovery of vitamin A, the untold story of the many uses of liver and liver derivatives for health and healing, and the modern tarnished reputation it has received, while thoroughly refuting its basis.
Liver has traditionally been used to treat night blindness, and its juice has been used to treat cancer. Fallon and Enig examine the basis for the claims that vitamin A can be toxic and contribute to birth defects, and expose the foundation of sand that these claims are built upon.
They take you from "vitamin A bravery" through "vitamin A vagary" and "vitamin A knavery" to "vitamin A slavery," and vindicate this maligned but precious vitamin as they tell the tale of its saga.
Mary Enig, PhD, is the author of
Know Your Fats: The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils, and Cholesterol,
the only book on fats that's written for the popular press but by a lipid scientist. It's an everything-you-need-to-know book about fat and cholesterol.
Vitamin A: The Forgotten Bodybuilding Nutrient
My own article detailing the importance of vitamin A to building muscle and utilizing protein. Not only can vitamin A rival the use of testosterone therapy in improving growth in deprived children, but any concerns that excess testosterone can accelerate prostate cancer are tempered by the fact that vitamin A is the most powerful inhibitor of prostate cancer known.
A high-protein diet depletes vitamin A, so it is critical that at least some liver or cod liver oil are included in a meat-heavy, or worse, protein-powder-heavy, diet. It's also needed for the synthesis of all steroid hormones, which are reponsible for such effects as libido, muscle-buiding, and even blood sugar regulation.
Cod Liver Oil and Desiccated Liver
Cod liver oil and desiccated liver pills are an excellent supplement to the diet. For those who don't like the taste, cod liver oil can be found in capsules, and some companies make great natural flavors.
Cod liver oil is an excellent source of vitamins A and D, and the essential fatty acid DHA, which is important to the brain, retina, and the resolution of acute inflammation. Not all cod liver oils are equal. Please see below for buying information.
Desiccated liver can provide all the nutrients of liver, including its elusive "anti-fatigue" factor in a form where taste and texture aren't an issue. Liver's reputation for bad taste is largely a product of poor-quality cuts of liver and poor cooking methods; nevertheless, desiccated liver pills both provide liver for someone who doesn't like its taste, and are a great source of the "anti-fatigue" factor for someone who is on the go, or doesn't have time to cook.
So, if your goal is to obtain omega-3 fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins for growth, strong bones, mental and eye health, you should supplement with cod liver oil.
If, on the other hand, your goal is to obtain B vitamins and the anti-fatigue factor for energy, you should supplement with dessicated liver.
If one is not consuming liver, ideally one would supplement with both. If one eats liver regularly, it would still be wise to supplement with some cod liver oil for adequate DHA and vitamin D.
How to Find the Highest Quality Liver And Cod Liver Oil
Here we offer you a guide to finding the best quality liver, desiccated liver, and cod liver oil. We also supply you with a Google search box immediately below the guide. This will open a new window so you don't lose your place on our site, and will allow you to easily search for the brands we recommend and choose your own distributor.
Ideally, liver should be from an animal that is both raised organically and is pasture-fed. Your best luck for procuring a high-quality liver is from a local farm that raises their animals on pasture. This can often save you money, as well.
There are two ways to locate a source closest to you of pasture-fed liver. Simply enter a search for "liver" and "grass-fed" or "pastured" at Local Harvest, or click on your state at EatWild.com's directory.
Most people report that buffalo liver has a much milder taste than beef liver. Lamb's liver is even milder, but its texture is also softer, and many prefer buffalo as a happy medium. Poultry livers generally have the mildest taste, but their nutrient profile is different, and some people perceive the health benefits from the livers of ruminant (red meat) animals to be greater.
It is important to note that liver's taste is mildest if it is cooked lightly. Over-cooking liver brings out the taste that most people find unsatisfying.
Cod liver oil, like liver, is rich in vitamin A. It is also the best source of dietary vitamin D, and provides the essential omega-3 fatty acid DHA directly, unlike flax and other plant oils that suppply the inefficiently converted precursor ALA. It is also superior to fish oil because it provides vitamin A, which is needed in addition to vitamin E to protect these fatty acids from oxidation in the body. Nevertheless, because there is insufficient evidence regarding whether the combined vitamins offer full protection, one should consume cod liver oil only in small amounts.
Not all cod liver oils are equal. The essential fatty acids in cod liver oil are polyunsaturated, which makes them prone to oxidation. Some companies take poor care of their oils, resulting in a spoiled oil. What's more, vitamin contents are widely varying.
My highest recommendations go to two producers of high-vitamin cod liver oil:
Both of these producers offer the high-vitamin cod liver oil that the Cleveland dentist Weston Price used in the 1930s, in conjunction with a centrifuged butter oil, to reverse tooth decay. Dr. Price even showed photos of the x-rays to prove his patients' teeth were remineralizing.
Green Pastures has also begun producing a centrifuged butter oil supplement, made from the cream of cows grazing on rich pasture, for the first time since Dr. Price had developed his own and used it to treat his patients. Radiant Life also carries this butter oil.
Green Pasture's cod liver oil has the added benefit of being available in mint, orange, and cinnamon flavors, as well as capsules, which is ideal for children, or for adults who are sensitive to the fishy taste.
The company now offers two new products I consider even better: the fermented cod liver and skate liver oils. I believe these oils are high in vitamin K2, based on anecdotal evidence that the fermented cod liver oil cures spider veins (a predictable response to vitamin K2 supplementation) and the fact that fermentation generally (though not universally) increases the vitamin K2 content of foods. The skate liver oil has the additional benefit of being much higher in vitamin E.
Dave Wetzel, the company's owner, is reportedly in the process of having the vitamin K2 contents of his products analyzed. When this information is available I will update this page.
Garden of Life's cod liver oil is also a quality cod liver oil, although since it is not a high-vitamin variety, we consider it to be of secondary quality.
ConsumerLabs.com has claimed that Garden of Life's cod liver oil "failed" their test for spoilage. However, to the best of my knowledge, the trial tested for a broad range of chemicals that include both spoilage indicators, as well as harmless flavors. For some unknown reason, Garden of Life's cod liver oil was included in a trial that otherwise only included fish oils, in which their flavored oil was used when the standard was to use non-flavored oils.
I do not see a reason, then, to stop recommending Garden of Life at this time.
I have supplied the Google search box below. Your search will open a new browser window, so you can enter such terms as "cod liver oil," "desiccated liver," or any of the brands we have recommended without losing your place on our site.
