Liver

Liver research paper due and don't know how to start it? How about like this?

The liver is a vital organ located behind the lower ribs on the right side of your abdomen weighing in at about 3 pounds, roughly the size of a football. This complex organ performs many functions essential to life. The normal liver is soft, smooth and connected to the small intestine by the bile duct which carries bile formed in the liver to the intestines. You simply cannot live without it. Some of those vital functions are:

1. To convert food into chemicals necessary for life and growth;

2. To manufacture and export important substances used by the rest of the body;

3. To process drugs absorbed from the digestive tract into forms that are easier for the body to use; and

4. To detoxify and excrete substances that otherwise would be poisonous.

The liver plays a major role in the conversion of food into essential chemicals to support life. All of the blood as it leaves the stomach and intestines must pass through the liver before reaching the rest of the body. Strategically placed, the liver processes nutrients and drugs absorbed from the digestive tract into forms that are easier for the rest of the body to use. In essence, the liver can be thought of as the body's refinery.

Furthermore, your liver detoxified substances found in the blood which have been ingested and internally produced. The liver metabolizes them into substances that can be easily eliminated from the body. Many drugs taken to treat diseases and alcohol are also chemically modified by the liver. These changes govern the drug's activity in the body. The liver produces a greenish-brown fluid called bile which is essential for digestion. Stored in the gallbladder bile is discharged into the intestine after eating in order to aid in digestion.