Liver

Pace2008

I've recently become reaquainted with this unloved and much-maligned cut of meat. I've had it in the past and hated it, but have learned that cut thinly and seared briefly on a hot pan it becomes a different food entirely to the pungent tripe I've had in the past.

It's tasty, it's protein rich and best of all, it's dirt cheap, coming in at something like €3/kg.

Which leads me to believe it may be too good to be true...are there are any negative health implications associated with regular liver consumption (lamb's liver in my case, if it makes any difference)? I usually go for fattier meats on days I'm not training, and might be eating liver two or three times a week.

More savings on my part if it's open season!

--Kaiser--

You can die from Hypervitaminosis A if you consume too much polar bear, seal, walrus or husky liver.....apart from that think you're good

rocky

where do you get it for 3€/kg?

Pace2008

rocky wrote: »

where do you get it for 3€/kg?

Pulled it out of my arse, as it transpires.

Was down in the butchers and it works out as €4.50kg. I think it's similar in Tesco.

Still cheap, though.

El_Dangeroso

Liver is the original superfood, it's so nutritious it's practically a multivitamin.

But you shouldn't eat it more than twice a week, there's a LOT of vitamin A in it.

I'm trying to learn to love liver at the moment.

Things I've learnt:

1. Lightly cook, unless you like the texture of rubber bands
2. Freeze it, then grate it then cook in tomato sauce with mince and onions, hides the taste.

Pace2008

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

But you shouldn't eat it more than twice a week, there's a LOT of vitamin A in it.

Would it be an issue that I take cod liver oil daily? About 20ml, which is about 1600 mg of vitamin A.

I understand it's easier to posion oneself with vitamin A than any other micronutrient.

Mellor

1600 mg is over 500 times the upper limit for vitamin A, you mean 1600ug

The daily limit is 3000ug, so that amount of vitamin A is ok.

The reason El Dangeroso suggested limiting it to twice a week was not down to frequency but rather quantity. 100g of liver will have a lot more vit A than 20ml of oil (about 6500ug in it).
100g isn't even a very big portion, eating liver every day would lead to Hypervitaminosis A I imagine. And not just Polar Bear as one poster suggested

rocky

What are the symptoms for Vitamin A poisoning? I had a period of eating liver 3-4 times a week (reduced to ~2-3 now), no side effects?

found this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervitaminosis_A

Effects include

* Birth defects
* Liver problems
* Reduced bone mineral density that may result in osteoporosis
* Coarse bone growths
* Skin discoloration
* Hair loss
* Excessive skin dryness/peeling (desquamation)
* Angular cheilitis
* Intracranial hypertension (see Idiopathic intracranial hypertension[1])

[edit] Signs

Signs of acute toxicity include nausea and vomiting, headache, dizziness, blurred vision, and loss of muscular coordination.

El_Dangeroso

Acute toxicity is probably not going to happen at your intake Rocky, plus there's variable tolerance so you might be completely fine.

But there's a synergistic relationship between all the fat solubles, particularly A and D, so a little too much A might lead to a slight deficiency of relative D. Or it may not. There's no exact formula.

But I do know that 200g liver per week is enough in terms of nutrients, so just the precautionary principle being invoked there.

Red Cortina

Pace2008 wrote: »

I've recently become reaquainted with this unloved and much-maligned cut of meat. I've had it in the past and hated it, but have learned that cut thinly and seared briefly on a hot pan it becomes a different food entirely to the pungent tripe I've had in the past.

Thanks for that tip on cooking liver. I'm not the world's biggest fan so appreciate it:)

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

Things I've learnt:

1. Lightly cook, unless you like the texture of rubber bands
2. Freeze it, then grate it then cook in tomato sauce with mince and onions, hides the taste.

I have a few chicken livers languishing in the freezer so I took one out tonight and put it in my chilli. We'll see how it turns out.

The last time I did that the liver ended permeating the whole lot of the chilli and it was disgusting. On the up side the OH thought it was the nicest batch of chilli ever cause of the 'enhanced' flavour.:pac:

Mellor

Rocky, the upper limit is just where it will be avoided, some people will have to go way over to be affected. For a start bodyweights must play a part.

200g a week is prob a good number to stick to, above 300g a week will average out at over 3000ug a day