Bile Duct Congestion Can Lead to Intestinal Diseases and Liver Disorders
by Andreas Moritz (see all articles by this author)

(NaturalNews) The small intestine is continuous with the stomach at the
pyloric sphincter and has a length of 16-19 feet. It leads into the large
intestine, which is about 3.5-5 feet long. The small intestine secretes
intestinal juice to complete the digestion of carbohydrates, proteins, and
fats. It also absorbs nutrient materials necessary for nourishing and
maintaining the body and protects it against infection by microbes that have
survived the antimicrobial action of hydrochloric acid in the stomach.

Intestinal Diseases

When acid food (chyme) from the stomach enters the duodenum, it combines
first with bile and pancreatic juice, and then with intestinal juice.
Gallstones in the liver and gallbladder drastically reduce the secretion of
bile, which weakens the ability of pancreatic enzymes to digest
carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. This, in turn, prevents the small
intestine from properly absorbing the nutrient components of these foods
(such as monosaccharides from carbohydrates, amino acids from protein, and
fatty acids and glycerol from fats). This incomplete absorption can lead to
undernourishment and food cravings.

Since the presence of bile in the intestines is essential for the absorption
of life-essential fats, calcium, and vitamin K, gallstones can lead to
life-threatening diseases, such as heart disease, osteoporosis, and cancer.
The liver uses the fat-soluble vitamin K to produce the compounds
responsible for the clotting of blood. In case of poor vitamin K absorption,
hemorrhagic disease may result. The body cannot fully absorb this vitamin
when a problem with the digestion of fat exists. The main cause of
inadequate vitamin K absorption is an insufficient supply of bile,
pancreatic lipase, and pancreatic fat. It stands to reason that following a
low-fat or no-fat diet can actually endanger your life.

Calcium is essential for the hardening of bone and teeth, the coagulation of
blood, and the mechanism of muscle contraction. Poor bile secretion can,
therefore, undermine the uptake of calcium, a mineral the body requires for
some of its most vital activities.

What applies to vitamin K also applies to all other fat-soluble vitamins,
including vitamins A, E, and D. The small intestine can only absorb vitamin
A and carotene sufficiently if fat absorption is normal. If vitamin A
absorption is insufficient, the epithelial cells become damaged. These cells
form an essential part of all the organs, blood vessels, lymph vessels, and
so on in the body. Vitamin A is also necessary to maintain healthy eyes and
protect against or reduce microbial infection. Vitamin D is essential for
calcification of bones and teeth. It is of great importance to realize that
supplementing these vitamins does not resolve the problem of deficiency.

To sum it up, without normal bile secretions, the body cannot digest and
absorb enough of these vitamins, which, in turn, can cause considerable
damage to the circulatory, lymphatic, and urinary systems.

Inadequately digested foods tend to ferment and putrefy in the small and
large intestines. They attract a vast number of bacteria to help speed up
the process of decomposition. The breakdown products are often very toxic,
and so are the excretions produced by the bacteria. All of this strongly
irritates the mucus lining, which is one of the body's foremost defense
lines against disease-causing agents. Regular exposure to these toxins
impairs the body's immune system, 60 percent of which is located in the
intestines. Overburdened by a constant invasion of toxins, the small and
large intestines may be afflicted with a number of disorders, including
diarrhea, constipation, abdominal gas, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis,
diverticular disease, hernias, polyps, dysentery, appendicitis, volvulus,
and intussusceptions, as well as both benign and malignant tumors.

Ample bile flow maintains good digestion and absorption of food and has a
strong cleansing action throughout the intestinal tract. Every part of the
body depends on the basic nutrients made available through the digestive
system, as well as the efficient removal of waste products from that system.
Gallstones in the liver and gallbladder considerably disrupt both these
vital processes. Therefore, they can be held accountable for most, if not
all, of the different kinds of ailments that can afflict the body. Removal
of gallstones from these two organs helps to normalize the digestive and
eliminative functions, improve cell metabolism, and maintain balance
throughout the body.

Diseases of the Liver

The liver is the largest gland in the body. It weighs up to three pounds, is
suspended behind the ribs on the upper right side of the abdomen, and spans
almost the entire width of the body. Being responsible for hundreds of
different functions, it is also the most complex and active organ in the
body.

Since the liver is in charge of processing, converting, distributing, and
maintaining the body's vital "fuel" supply (for example, nutrients and
energy), anything that interferes with these functions must have a serious,
detrimental impact on the health of the liver and the body as a whole. The
strongest interference stems from the presence of gallstones.

Besides manufacturing cholesterol -- an essential building material of organ
cells, hormones, and bile -- the liver also produces hormones and proteins
that affect the way the body functions, grows, and heals. Furthermore, it
makes new amino acids and converts existing ones into proteins. These
proteins are the main building blocks of the cells, hormones,
neurotransmitters, genes, and so forth. Other essential functions of the
liver include breaking down old, worn-out cells; recycling proteins and
iron; and storing vitamins and nutrients. Gallstones are a hazard to all
these vital tasks.

In addition to breaking down alcohol in the blood, the liver also detoxifies
noxious substances, bacteria, parasites, and certain components of
pharmaceutical drugs. It uses specific enzymes to convert waste or poisons
into substances that can be safely removed from the body. In addition, the
liver filters more than one quart of blood each minute. Most of the filtered
waste products leave the liver via the bile stream.

Gallstones obstructing the bile ducts lead to high levels of toxicity in the
liver and, ultimately, to liver diseases. This development is further
exacerbated by one's intake of pharmaceutical drugs, normally broken down by
the liver. The presence of gallstones prevents their detoxification, which
can cause "overdosing" and devastating side effects, even at normal doses.
It also means that the liver is at risk for damage from the breakdown
products of the drugs on which it acts. Alcohol that is not detoxified
properly by the liver can seriously injure or destroy liver cells.

All liver diseases are preceded by extensive bile duct obstruction through
gallstones. The gallstones distort the structural framework of the liver
lobules, which are the main units constituting the liver (which contains
more than 50,000 such units). Subsequently, blood circulation to and from
these lobules, and the cells of which they are composed, becomes
increasingly difficult. In addition, the liver cells have to cut down bile
production. Nerve fibers also become damaged. Prolonged suffocation due to
the presence of stones eventually damages or destroys liver cells and their
lobules. Fibrous tissue gradually replaces damaged cells, causing further
obstruction and an increase in pressure on the liver's blood vessels. If the
regeneration of liver cells does not keep pace with this damage, liver
cirrhosis is imminent. Liver cirrhosis usually leads to death.

Liver failure occurs when cell suffocation destroys so many liver cells that
the number of cells required to carry out the organ's most important and
vital functions is insufficient. Consequences of liver failure include
drowsiness, confusion, shaking of hands tremor, drop in blood sugar,
infection, kidney failure and fluid retention, uncontrolled bleeding, coma,
and death. The capability of the liver to recover from major damage, though,
is truly remarkable. Once the liver flush has removed all gallstones, and
the afflicted person discontinues using alcohol and medicinal drugs, there
usually are no significant long-term consequences, even though many of the
liver cells may have been destroyed during the illness. When the cells grow
again, they will do so in an ordered fashion that permits normal liver
functions. This is possible because in liver failure (as opposed to liver
cirrhosis) the basic structure of the liver has not been substantially
compromised.

Acute hepatitis results when whole groups of liver cells begin to die off.
Gallstones harbor large quantities of viral material, which can invade and
infect liver cells, causing cell-degenerative changes. As gallstones
increase in number and size, and as more cells become infected and die,
entire lobules begin to collapse, and blood vessels begin to develop kinks.
This greatly affects blood circulation to the remaining liver cells. The
extent of the damage that these changes have on the liver and its overall
performance largely depends on the degree of obstruction caused by the
gallstones in the liver bile ducts. Cancer of the liver only occurs after
many years of progressive occlusion of the liver bile ducts. This applies
also to tumors in the liver that emanate from primary tumors in the GI
tract, lungs, or breast.

Most liver infections (type A, type B, type non-A, and type non-B) occur
when a certain number of liver lobules are congested with gallstones, which
can even happen at a very early age. The now common practice of prematurely
cutting or clamping the umbilical cord that connects a newborn baby with his
mother, leaves the child with just two-thirds of its required blood volume,
a lot of toxins normally filtered out by the placenta during the first hour
after birth, and nearly no antibodies to protect it against disease. It
usually takes at least 40 to 60 minutes before the umbilical cord stops
throbbing completely. Cutting the cord too early constitutes an act of
medical negligence that can affect the baby's liver right from the start and
set it up for gallstone formation even during childhood. This can
subsequently lead to liver infections. Hepatitis C infection alone affects 5
million Americans and kills 30,000 each year, more than die from AIDS.

A healthy liver and immune system are perfectly able to destroy viral
material, regardless of whether the virus has been picked up from the
external environment or has entered the bloodstream in some other way. The
majority of all people exposed to these viruses never fall ill. In fact, we
all have most viruses that exist outside the body in our body right now.
However, when large amounts of gallstones are present, the liver becomes
congested and toxic, which turns it into a conducive environment for viral
activity. Viruses are intracellular parasites that enter a host cell and
take over the host's cellular machinery to produce new viral particles (it
also has been proved that viruses can be created from bacteria within the
cells). But viruses don't develop and attack cells randomly. Contrary to
common belief, viruses tend to "hijack" the nuclei of the weakest and most
damaged cells to prevent them from mutating. Not all viruses succeed,
though, and liver cancer may result. Their presence in cancer cells should
not be misconstrued to have cancer-producing effects.

Gallstones can harbor plenty of live viruses. Some of these viruses break
free and enter the blood. This is known as chronic hepatitis. Non-viral
infections of the liver may be triggered (not caused) by bacteria that
spread from any of the bile ducts obstructed with gallstones.

The presence of gallstones in the bile ducts also impairs the liver cells'
ability to deal with toxic substances such as chloroform, cytotoxic drugs,
anabolic steroids, alcohol, aspirin, fungi, food additives, and the like.
When this occurs, the body develops hypersensitivity to these predictable
toxic substances and to other unpredictable ones contained in numerous
medicinal drugs. Many allergies stem from such conditions of
hypersensitivity. For the same reason, there may also be a drastic increase
in toxic side effects resulting from the intake of medicinal drugs, side
effects that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or pharmaceutical
companies may not even be aware of.

The most common form of jaundice results from gallstones being stuck in the
bile duct leading to the duodenum, and/or from gallstones and fibrous tissue
distorting the structural framework of the liver lobules. The movement of
bile through the bile channels (canaliculi) is blocked, and the liver cells
can no longer conjugate and excrete bile pigment, known as bilirubin.
Consequently, there is a buildup in the bloodstream of both bile and the
substances from which it is made. As bilirubin begins to build up in the
blood, it stains the skin. Bilirubin concentration in the blood may be three
times above normal before a yellow coloration of both the skin and the
conjunctiva of the eyes becomes apparent. Unconjugated bilirubin has a toxic
effect on brain cells. A tumor in the head of the pancreas caused by bile
duct congestion may also cause jaundice.

Diseases of the Gallbladder and Bile Ducts

The liver secretes bile, which passes via the two hepatic ducts into the
common hepatic duct. The common hepatic duct runs for 1.5 inches before
joining the cystic duct that connects it with the gallbladder. Liver bile
continues its journey through the common bile duct into the intestinal
tract, but most of it must first pass into the gallbladder. The gallbladder
is a pear-shaped pouch that protrudes from the bile duct. It is attached to
the posterior side of the liver.

A normal gallbladder generally holds about 2 fluid ounces of bile. The bile
stored in the gallbladder, however, has a different consistency than the
bile found in the liver. In the gallbladder, most of the salt and water
contained in the bile is reabsorbed, thus reducing its volume to a mere
one-tenth of its original quantity. Bile salts (as opposed to regular salt)
are not absorbed, though, which means their concentration is increased about
tenfold. On the other hand, the gallbladder adds mucus to the bile, which
turns it into a thick, mucus-like substance. Its high concentration makes
bile the powerful digestive aid that it is.

The muscular walls of the gallbladder contract and eject bile when acidic
foods and most protein foods enter the duodenum from the stomach. A more
marked gallbladder activity is noted if food entering the duodenum contains
a high proportion of fat. The body uses the bile salts contained in bile to
emulsify the fat and facilitate its digestion. Once the bile salts have done
their job and left the emulsified fat for intestinal absorption, they travel
on down the intestine. Most of them are reabsorbed in the final section of
the small intestine (ileum) and carried back to the liver. Once in the
liver, the bile salts are collected again in the bile and secreted into the
duodenum. Intestinal congestion sharply reduces the amount of bile salts
needed for proper bile production and fat digestion. Diminished bile salt
concentration in the bile causes gallstones, and leaves large amounts of
fats undigested; this is hazardous to the intestinal environment.

Gallstones in the gallbladder may be made primarily of cholesterol, calcium,
or pigments such as bilirubin. Cholesterol is the commonest component, but
many of the stones are of mixed composition. Besides the above ingredients,
gallstones may contain bile salts, water, and mucus, as well as toxins,
bacteria, and, sometimes, dead parasites.

Typically, stones in the gallbladder keep growing in size for about eight
years before noticeable symptoms begin to appear. Larger stones are
generally calcified and can be detected easily through radiological means or
by using ultrasound. Some 85 percent of the gallstones found in the
gallbladder measure about ¾ inches across, although some can become as large
as 2 to 3 inches across. Such stones form when, for reasons explained in
Chapter 3 of The Amazing Liver and Gallbladder Flush (www.ener-chi.com) ,
bile in the gallbladder becomes too saturated and its unabsorbed
constituents begin to harden.

If a gallstone slips out of the gallbladder and becomes impacted in the
cystic bile duct or common bile duct, there is very strong spasmodic
contraction of the wall of the duct. The contraction helps to move the stone
onward. This causes severe pain, known as biliary colic, and is accompanied
by considerable distension of the gallbladder. If the gallbladder is packed
with gallstones, it can suffer extremely painful spasmodic muscle
contractions. (I suffered over 40 such attacks before my first liver and
gallbladder flush, during which I passed over 600 stones. After my first
flush, I never suffered another attack again.)

Gallstones can cause irritation and inflammation of the lining of the
gallbladder, as well as of the cystic and common bile ducts. This is a
condition known as cholecystitis. There may also be superimposed microbial
infection. It is quite common to encounter ulceration of the tissues between
the gallbladder and the duodenum or colon, with fistula formation and
fibrous adhesions.

Gallbladder disease generally originates in the liver. When the occurrence
of gallstones in the bile ducts of the liver, and, eventually the
development of fibrous tissue, distort the structure of liver lobules,
venous blood pressure starts to rise in the portal vein. This, in turn,
increases the blood pressure in the cystic vein, which drains venous blood
from the gallbladder into the portal vein. The incomplete elimination of
waste products through the cystic duct causes a backup of acidic waste in
the tissues composing the gallbladder. This gradually reduces the stamina
and performance of the gallbladder. Subsequently, the formation of
mineralized gallstones is just a matter of time.

Simple directions for removing gallstones safely in the comfort of one's own
home are provided in the bestselling book "The Amazing Liver and Gallbladder
Flush" by Andreas Moritz (www.ener-chi.com) or (www.amazon.com) . Also see
the article "Does Your Liver Need an Overhaul?" by Andreas Moritz
(NaturalNews).

Excerpted from "The Amazing Liver and Gallbladder Flush"

About the author
Andreas Moritz is a medical intuitive; a practitioner of Ayurveda,
iridology, shiatsu, and vibrational medicine; a writer; and an artist. He is
the author of The Amazing Liver and Gallbladder Flush, Timeless Secrets of
Health and Rejuvenation, Lifting the Veil of Duality, Cancer Is Not a
Disease, It's Time to Come Alive, Heart Disease No More, Diabetes No More,
Simple Steps to Total Health, Diabetes -- No More, Ending the AIDS Myth and
Heal Yourself with Sunlight. For more information, visit the author's
website

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