Bile
Bile or gall is
a dark green to yellowish brown fluid, produced by
the liver of
most vertebrates,
that aids the digestion of lipids in
the small
intestine. In humans, bile is produced continuously
by the liver (liver bile), and stored and
concentrated in the gallbladder.
After eating, this stored bile is discharged into
the duodenum.
The composition of hepatic bile is (97-98)% water,
0.7% bile salts, 0.2% bilirubin,
0.51% fats (cholesterol, fatty acids, and lecithin), and
200 meq/l inorganic salts.About
400 to 800 milliliters of bile is produced
per day in adult human beings.
per day in adult human beings.
 |
Clinical significanceIn the absence of bile, fats become indigestible and are instead excreted in feces, a condition called steatorrhea. Feces lack their characteristic brown color and instead are white or gray, and greasy. Steatorrhea can lead to deficiencies in essential fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins. In addition, past the small intestine (which is normally responsible for absorbing fat from food) the gastrointestinal tract and gut flora are not adapted to processing fats, leading to problems in the large intestine |
|
|
| Herbs for healthy bile production | |||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
