The humble gallbladder – Harvard Health

In the digestive hierarchy, you can first list the stomach, liver, or colon. But under your liver there is a pear-shaped sac, which barely gets what is thought of: a low gallbladder.

These small but powerful organs play an important role in helping us digest food, but often do not acknowledge them unless something goes well, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). However, gallbladder diseases, including stones, inflammation, infection, or obstruction, can lead to unbearable pain and life-threatening complications.

The gallbladder essentially acts as a storage room for bile, squeezing the liquid into the small intestine and digesting the fat that is consumed. So it makes sense that organs may struggle when our diet is fatty or heavy with deep fried foods. Dr. William Bruge, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said that we can live without a gallbladder, but we cannot remain in peak performance mode without hardworking care.

“I think people generally try to ignore the gallbladder,” says Dr. Bruge. “It’s not a creak of reputation like the colon or the rectum, but it’s on the list.”

Tactics to promote gallbladder health

Keeping your gallbladder healthy requires a similar approach to keeping the rest of your body in optimal shape. Some of these familiar suggestions include:

Eat more fruits and vegetables. They are rich in nutrients such as vitamin C, folic acid and magnesium, which can reduce the risk of gallbladder disease. Fiber-filled fruits and vegetables contain little or no fat, which also puts strain on the gallbladder.

I prefer lean protein. Choosing easy-to-grilled fish dishes rather than chicken, lean meat, or fried foods can reduce the risk of gallstones. Limit or avoid full-fat dairy products and red or processed meats.

Maintain a healthy weight. Overweight and obesity can make you more susceptible to gallstones.

Risk factors

Aside from a high-fat diet, other risk factors for gallbladder disease include overweight or obesity, a family history of gallbladder problems, Native American or Latino heritage, and age 40 and over. Women are twice as likely as men, and are top of the list of gallstone problems. Extra estrogens, especially during pregnancy, slow down the ability to empty the gallbladder and allow bile pools, says Dr. Bruge.

Gallstones occur when bile or related fluids form a hardened stone-like mass that can grow and grow. Growing gallstones or blocking bile ducts creates painful attacks that are painful. Other symptoms include pain between the shoulder blades, nausea, vomiting, fever, chills, bloating, indigestion, and sweating. Approximately a quarter of people diagnosed with gallstones each year need treatment, usually surgery.

“There may be severe pain (much more than gas or convulsions) that may last for an hour or two, especially after eating a heavy or fatty meal,” says Dr. Bruge.

Serious complications

Because the bile ducts connect the gallbladder to other digestive organs, these surrounding structures can also suffer from complications of gallbladder disease. Problems include cholangitis (clinical duct inflammation), cirrhosis (live scarring), and pancreatitis (inflammatory pancreas).

But the most dangerous complication is cholecystitis, called cholecystitis, says Dr. Bruge. The gallstones become infected and painfully burned due to blockage of gallstones in the gallbladder. “It’s a pretty dramatic illness,” he says. “The gallbladder can rupture or leak infected bile and the infection can spread to the body. It’s fatal.”

New evidence suggests that gallstones may also increase the risk of developing liver, bile ducts, and pancreatic cancers. Survey published online on June 17, 2022 British Journal of Cancer Over 115,000 women and nearly 50,000 men were tracked for up to 30 years and asked about the history of gallstones at the beginning of the study and at the other two years that followed. Compared to people without gallstones, those who acquire them are 60% more likely to develop liver cancer, more than four times more likely to develop bile duct cancer, and 13% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer.

Gallbladder cancer itself is relatively rare and is diagnosed in about 12,200 Americans each year. “It’s very fatal, but not very common,” says Dr. Bruge.