liver tonic

[Mattzilla]

has anyone ever added liver tonic to their home made beef herat mix? i got an email from a guy who said he does....part of the email is as follows:

"Another very good health elixer I add is 10ml of liver tonic , available from Health shops, (cost $20.00 for 100ml) The liver is a critically important and central organ for almost all body processes including digestion, food assimilation and detoxification.A compromised liver results in poor appetite,reduced metabolism and susceptibility to infections. With good liver function, appetite improves and growth fates increase"


any experiences anyone????

[oodi]

Sorry, Matt... never heard of it.

Judi
:-\

[brewmaster15]

Hi Matt,
I don't put much stock in liver "tonics". If there was such a thing every alcoholic out there would be using them to cure cirrohsis of the liver. :) and hepatitis would be a disease of the past.

Problem is the only thing that works as a liver "tonic" is Time. I am pretty sure The liver is the only internal organ that regerates itself if it is given the time to heal. The amount that healing is going to rely on the amount of damage and the age of the animal as well as the general health of the it. Aside from a nutritionally balenced diet, I would say not much else should be needed. Even vitamens can be harmful to an impaired liver if they are too high in concentration.

I teach a workshop called ethnobotany.. its the study of how people of different cultures use plants. Theres much we can learn from that area of science, but much caution as well. Health food stores like to sell naturopathic remedies for everything.Its become a Huge money maker in the USA. Some Products are excellent and based on thousands of years use by people ...some are no better than snakeskin oil sold in the 1800's as curealls . These products are largely unregulated and untested, and at times very dangerous.

A discus fed a balenced diet should not need a liver tonic, IMO..unless there was damage done by hormones, or medications..in which case..Time and good caring combined with the fishes general overall health is going to be the best "tonic",IMO.

If you can find out the ingredients of the tonic mentioned...that would be interesting.. if you can't I would not even think of using something in my tank without knowing what it was.

I know we have a few Doctors on the site..maybe they can add to this?
hth,
al

[Mattzilla]

thanks brew...i'll try and find out the ingredients of the 'tonic' that this guy uses and get back to you.

cheers

[suisoman2]

Hi all,

I don't know what liver tonic would be, but may he refers to cod ar salmin liver oil which is sold in these diet stores. It is a source of omega3-6 un saturated fats used in cholestrol lowering diets.

When you read about aquaculture diet studies for growing out salmon trout or ornamental fish, the content of these fats seems to be essential for fast and healthy growth, so any feed will always be checked on omega3-6 content .

My concerns with these oils is the same as mentioned by others here,
1) a balanced diet will be sufficient to grow fish optimal ( ornamental fish industry adds these artificially because they feed cheap fishmeal foods that need a bit of a booster and enhancement to be healthy )
2) too much of anything is not good. These oils are concentrated and how would you know how much to add to X pound of food, considering that oils break apart or oxidise etc....


I would stick to varied diet ( in my case earthworms are the magic food )
YMMV , please tell me if I talk nonsense here.


Cheers for Belgium
Dirk

[brewmaster15]

I would stick to varied diet ( in my case earthworms are the magic food )
YMMV , please tell me if I talk nonsense here.


Dirk,
Makes perfect sense to me and I agree with you!

-al

[Lynn]

I am pretty sure The liver is the only internal organ that regerates itself if it is given the time to heal.

If the liver is healthy it is a very strong organ. 'living donor' transplants are being done today...a part of a healthy persons liver is removed and transplanted.

[BGTW]

One great liver tonic: Go easy on them extra vitamins.

Bob