Raw Liver - safe to eat?

**hailtotheking** · 06-08-2007 01:16 PM

I was watching a documentray on Saturday called the Deadliest Catch, about Atlantic fisherman during the King Crab season, which lasts about 4 days. During this, the fisherman literally work solid doing instense physical labout with very little sleep, and they make up for lack of sleep by eating snacks whenever they get a chance. One of the fisherman was an ex-marine, and he said a nutritional trick he learnt during his training to keep him going was eating raw liver, which he swears is one of the best things to eat for fuelling intense activty.

Is it safe to do this regularly? Could you just use supermarket lamb or ox liver for this? I have heard of the strongmen and weightlifters back in the 50's and 60's doing a similar thing before training in the morning, just necking raw liver for breakfast.

Would liver tablets be anywhere near as effective?

**Vasquez** · 06-08-2007 01:19 PM

I saw that and when i saw him wash it down with a glass of milk i nearly puked!!!! I love liver but you wouldnt catch me eating it raw!!! I also swear by dessicated liver tabs!

**hailtotheking** · 06-08-2007 01:32 PM

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Originally Posted by Vasquez

I also swear by dessicated liver tabs!

How so? I havent tried them personally. What do they do for you?

simon m · 06-08-2007 01:55 PM

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Originally Posted by hailtotheking

How so? I havent tried them personally. What do they do for you?

That's what we had in the old days before good protenb powders. Good stuff.

kp1512 · 06-08-2007 02:01 PM

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Originally Posted by simon m

That's what we had in the old days before good protenb powders. Good stuff.

LOL I rememer them! In the old Weider shops! Massive tubs!

**Bison** · 06-08-2007 02:35 PM

Yeah they stink aswell, especially once the tubs been opened a few weeks!

I just bought some chicken livers from Tesco, only 49 pence. Good flavour to them. Are these supposed to be as good as other livers nutritionally?

**NU_nutrition_TS** · 06-08-2007 02:45 PM

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Originally Posted by Bison

Yeah they stink aswell, especially once the tubs been opened a few weeks!

I just bought some chicken livers from Tesco, only 49 pence. Good flavour to them. Are these supposed to be as good as other livers nutritionally?

Here's a nutritional breakdown for cooked chicken livers:
http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/item/5028.html
And one for fried lamb's liver, from the same site [for comparison]:
http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/item/75179.html

I'm thinking of trying some chicken livers [as I didn't do to well with the lamb's liver]. Regarding raw liver, I've always accepted as true the theory that liver flukes can be transmitted by eating raw liver. Don't know whether that is all liver or just the liver of one specific animal [pig?], But then again, it might just be an urban myth!

EDIT: having just looked it up, it seems liver flukes are 'picked up' by eating raw/under cooked fish or wild watercress!

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Liver flukes have a complex life cycle involving a definitive mammalian host and two intermediate aquatic hosts. Humans or other mammals eat the encysted metacercariae in inadequately cooked/raw/pickled fish or on wild watercress. After digestion of the cyst in the duodenum the larva enters the biliary duct where it matures into the adult worm, which lives off mucosal secretions. The worm lays eggs which pass into the stool and enter freshwater where they form a miracidium either before or after colonising various species of aquatic snail. Asexual reproduction leads to the formation of metacercariae. These pass to either fish or wild watercress/grass plants where they become encysted and complete their life cycle by being eaten by humans/other mammals.

http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/40000489/

**Bison** · 06-08-2007 03:18 PM

As I thought, very nutritious

I've eaten chicken livers lots of times when eating out in good restaurants but never at home before. I'm not a big fan of livers and find chicken to be the nicest, so well worth a try NU if you don't really like the lambs liver

**hailtotheking** · 06-08-2007 05:14 PM

Isn't too much liver meant to be bad due to toxic over-accumulation of Retinol, iron and Vitamin D?

**NU_nutrition_TS** · 06-08-2007 05:26 PM

When I was reading up on liver earlier, I did come across one article that said a polar explorer died of vitamin A toxicity due to eating the liver of huskies!

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Desperate to outstrip starvation, Mawson and Mertz killed the huskies for food and fell victim to vitamin A poisoning from eating the dog liver. Unknown at the time, the affliction produced wasting, fissuring of skin, and dementia, and ultimately claimed Mertz's life.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/shackle...ing/quest.html

It doesn't say how much they ate or for how long a period before falling ill [bear in mind they were probably ill from exposure and undernourishment anyway!] nor does it say if dog's livers are significantly richer in vitamin A than the livers of other animals! I would imagine it is a pretty rare occurrence and I think you would have to eat an awful lot over a significant period of time [as a healthy individual] to begin to see signs of toxicity [after which you would naturally curb your consumption!]. With regards to iron, I know men, especially, are prone to having too much in their system which can lead to things like cardiovascular disease. Wotan knows more about this particular topic though!