How To Slow Liver Aging And Protect Your Bones

A healthy liver is essential for healthy bones, so the negative effects of aging on your liver pose a problem for maintaining your bone health. In this article, we’ll examine the hallmarks of aging in the liver, and you’ll learn about how liver function supports your bones.

Then, you’ll learn how you can slow many of the changes that make the liver less resilient. These behaviors and strategies bolster the health of your liver, and along with it, the strength and durability of your bones.

What Happens To The Liver As You Age

As you age, your liver becomes smaller and receives less blood flow. While it continues to perform its vital functions, these changes reduce its reserve capacity and contribute to slower metabolism, increased inflammation, and other age-related changes.

This reduction in the liver’s functional reserve slows its processing of certain medications, alcohol, and other compounds. Older adults are more likely to take multiple prescription medications. Reduced liver function can interfere with metabolizing those drugs.

Studies have identified cellular hallmarks of aging in the liver, which increase the risk of liver and systemic disease. The aging process in the liver is driven by genetic and epigenetic alterations that disrupt mitochondrial function and nutrient-sensing pathways, leading to cellular damage, cell death, and increased inflammation.¹

These changes affect every major liver cell type and can impair hepatic function.¹

The hallmarks of aging include epigenetic alterations, genomic instability, telomere attrition, loss of proteostasis, dysregulation of nutrient sensing, altered intracellular communication, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence (cell death), chronic inflammation, and impaired adaptation to stress.¹ Each of these factors alters the functionality of cells– some through changes to the expression of genes (epigenetic and genomic factors), some by shortening the life cycle of the cell (telomere attrition and senescence), and others through the cell’s ability to communicate or manage its own functions (nutrient sensing, intracellular communication, inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and impaired adaptation).

Together, these hallmarks contribute to the loss of healthy liver cells and a gradual decline in liver function.

Synopsis

Cellular changes within the liver as it ages reduce its functional reserve and slow its activity. The hallmarks of liver aging include genetic changes, dysregulation of nutrient sensing, mitochondrial dysfunction, cell death, and increased inflammation.

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Age-Related Changes To Liver Function Impact Bone Health

These cellular changes alter overall liver function, with health implications that extend well beyond the liver. Bone health and liver function are closely connected, with their complex relationship called the liver-bone axis.

Studies have investigated and established the importance of the liver-bone axis for maintaining healthy bone tissue. A study in the Journal of Orthopaedic Translation found that abnormal metabolism in the liver could seriously affect the metabolic balance of bone. Researchers describe the roles of endocrine factors and biochemical signaling pathways in the liver-bone axis as “indispensable” and emphasize that the liver is often implicated in the development of osteoporosis.²

One such critical link is the liver’s role in activating Vitamin D, which is essential for healthy bones. As liver function declines, reduced Vitamin D activation could negatively affect bone health.³

Insulin-like growth factor 1 ( IGF-1) is produced primarily by the liver, and its production can decline as the liver ages. That impacts bone directly, because IGF-1 increases osteoblast differentiation, bone formation, mineralization, and skeletal growth.⁴

Synopsis

Changes to liver function can impact bone health and are implicated in the development of osteoporosis. The liver activates Vitamin D, produces insulin-like growth factor 1(IGF-1), and supports healthy bone metabolism.

Strategies For Preserving Liver Health And Function As You Age

While it’s impossible to prevent liver aging, we can mitigate many of the changes that decrease its function and harm our bones.

Exercise has been shown to preserve liver health as we age.

A study involving 85 female university students and 148 middle-aged mothers found a link between exercise and healthier liver function across the lifespan . Researchers observed that low muscle mass relative to body size was associated with low insulin sensitivity in young and middle-aged Japanese women. These findings suggest that exercise, along with the muscle mass it helps preserve or build, supports healthy liver function. ⁵

Diet can also play a powerful role in preserving liver function.

A 2023 study in BMC Medicine gathered dietary data from 159,222 participants without non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in the UK. Researchers assessed whether participants’ diets were plant based, and how healthful their plant-based diets were. Then they tracked who developed non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and compared that outcome to participants’ diets.⁶

The study found that greater adherence to plant-based diets, especially healthful plant-based diets, was associated with a lower risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and lower liver fat content, regardless of genetic susceptibility. However, an unhealthful plant-based diet was associated with higher NAFLD risk.⁶ These findings show that plant-based diets can help preserve liver health, but not all plant-based diets are equally healthy.

The lowest risk diets identified by the study fit the specifications of the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole-food carbohydrates, fish, extra-virgin olive oil, and adequate protein, while minimizing excess refined carbohydrates, added sugars, and ultra-processed foods.

Synopsis

You can’t stop your liver from aging, but you can slow many of the changes that make it less resilient. A diet rich in whole, nutrient-dense foods and regular exercise helps preserve liver function and bone health.

What This Means To You

Your liver plays a major role in your overall health and in healthy bone metabolism. Although liver function naturally declines with age, you can slow many of those age-related changes through a healthy diet and regular exercise.

The liver spends most of its time filtering toxins, which is a full-time job in the modern world. We created the Osteoporosis Fresh Start Cleanse to give your liver a chance to catch up. Reducing your liver’s toxic burden can help support healthy liver function– and that’s exactly what the Osteoporosis Fresh Start Cleanse is designed to u do. You’ll feel well-fed and energized throughout the cleanse because it isn’t about restriction, it’s about intentionally choosing foods and habits that support your liver’s natural ability to stay healthy and resilient..

Exercise is another major tool for maintaining liver health. SaveTrainer can help you develop the exercise practice you’ve always wanted, but never had enough support to create and maintain. With SaveTrainer you get a personalized program, tailored to your ability level and goals, that utilizes the expertise of our professional trainers. Best of all, because SaveTrainer is a video workout platform, it’s available anywhere and anytime, without the need for a gym or expensive home equipment.

Eat well and keep moving to support a healthy liver and stronger bones for years to come.

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Reading about bone health is a great first step, but building stronger bones requires the right type of exercise.

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