Your liver is a sugar warehouse, which is why diabetes damages it

The liver is the largest internal organ in the body, and it does several
things at once:

• Filters blood to remove wastes such as chemicals and toxins
• Breaks down medicines and other substances
• Produces bile, which helps digest fat
• Helps the immune system fight germs

And one more that connects it to diabetes.

The sugar warehouse

**When you eat, insulin removes extra sugar from the bloodstream — and that
sugar is stored in the liver for later.** Between meals and overnight, **the
liver releases it back into the bloodstream** so the body has energy.

So the liver is not a bystander in blood sugar control. It is the warehouse,
and the release schedule.

That is why **type 2 diabetes and being overweight increase the risk of liver
disease.** A system where insulin no longer works properly is a system where
the organ doing the storing and releasing is under continuous strain — and
where excess is stored as fat in the liver itself.

The relationship runs both ways, which is the part worth carrying: a damaged
liver handles blood sugar worse, and poorly controlled blood sugar damages the
liver further.

Anyone managing type 2 diabetes is, whether they have been told or not, also
looking after a liver.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.