I sometimes recommend to my patients that they try eating Lamb’s fry for breakfast on the weekend. This can help women with iron deficiency and its resultant fatigue. Dr Ruth Cilento, daughter of the famous Aussie doctor Lady Cilento recommended eating liver in her book on treating cancer, probably for its high content of vitamin K 2. Vitamin K 2 has been shown to reduce the spread of liver cancer in some studies and supplements of vitamin K 2 are available.

The livers of mammals and poultry have been commonly eaten as food by humans over many centuries. Domestic pig, lamb, calf, chicken, and goose livers are widely available from butchers and supermarkets. They make excellent food for your pet dogs.

In general, organ meats are much higher in nutrients than muscle meats. Fruits and vegetables are rich in phytonutrients like flavonoids and polyphenols that aren’t found in high concentrations in meats and organ meats, so fresh produce should always be a significant part of your diet.

Some people do not think that eating liver is healthy because of the belief that the liver is a storage organ for toxins in the body. While it is true that the liver neutralizes toxins (such as drugs, hormones, chemicals and poisons), it does not store these things. Toxins that the body cannot break down and excrete will accumulate in the body’s fatty tissues and nervous system.

The liver is a storage organ for many important nutrients (vitamins A, D, E, K, B12 and folic acid, and minerals such as copper and iron). These nutrients provide the body with some of the tools it needs to get rid of toxins. They are also needed by the immune system and the nervous system.

One proviso is that it is essential to eat organ meats from animals that have been raised on fresh pasture without hormones, antibiotics or commercial feed. Pasture-raised animal products are much higher in nutrients than animal products that come from commercial feedlots. For example, meat from pasture-raised animals has 2-4 times more omega-3 fatty acids than meat from commercially-raised animals. And pasture-raised eggs have been shown to contain up to 19 times more omega-3 fatty acids than supermarket eggs! In addition to these nutritional advantages, pasture-raised animal products benefit farmers, local communities and the environment.