Gilbert's Syndrome

What is it?

Gilbert's Syndrome is an inherited disorder where there is a defect in the ability of the liver to excrete bile pigment (bilirubin). This can lead to yellow skin and eye discoloration (jaundice), which fluctuates in degree.

How is it diagnosed?

Gilbert's Syndrome is detected by finding a slightly raised bilirubin level in the blood with no other abnormalities of liver function and no signs of liver disease. Bilirubin is a major breakdown product of hemoglobin.

What is bilirubin?

Bilirubin is the major breakdown product that results from the destruction of old red blood cells (as well as some other sources). It is removed from the blood by the liver, chemically modified by a process call conjugation. The water solubility of bilirubin allows the bilirubin to be excreted into bile. Bile then is used to digest food. The bilirubin secreted into the bile, passes into the intestine and to some extent reabsorbed from the intestine.

It is basically the pigment that gives feces its brown color.

Is It Common?

It is surprisingly common, affecting 2% to 5% of the population.

What are the symptoms?

Gilbert's Syndrome is generally harmless and does not produce any symptoms, although some sufferers complain of excessive fatigue. Gilbert's Syndrome does not require medical treatment or long term medical attention, and patients with this syndrome should not be led to believe that they have a liver disease. The major importance of establishing the correct diagnosis is so that the patient can be informed they do not have a serious disease, and unnecessary investigations can be avoided in the future.

Treatment

General Recommendations
Those with Gilbert's syndrome need only follow a healthy diet and avoid liver toxins such as excessive alcohol and liver toxic drugs. Bilirubin levels tend to rise if the diet is poor, and during fasting, or mild illnesses, which may cause the skin to yellow.

Diet

Follow Liver Cleansing Diet by Dr Cabot or the twelve vital principles in "The Healthy Liver and Bowel Book" by Dr Cabot Include often - wholegrains, legumes, nuts and seeds, fruits and vegetables, beetroot, artichoke, carrots, turmeric, lecithin. Indeed, 40 percent of the diet should consist of raw fruits and vegetables with an emphasis on green leafy vegetables.

Drink eight glasses of water daily. Distilled water with lemon is also excellent. Avoid - all processed and refined foods, refined sugars, fatty foods, fried foods, 'junk' foods, coffee, tea and soft drinks. Avoid overeating; eat small regular meals.

Avoid ALL dairy products - dairy foods contain high levels of antibiotics, steroids and artificial growth hormones as this is what the herds are treated with in today's high tech dairies to prevent disease and boost milk production. As with humans where substances go through into breast milk it is the same for cattle - only they neglect to tell you this in the advertisements when they are telling you how great milk is. If you need further info on this please visit www.notmilk.com

Avoid ALL margarines and similar type spreads manufactured from hydrogenated damaged fats

Avoid deep fried and fatty foods.

Limit chicken and turkey and eggs that are not free range/organic as these often contain artificial growth hormones, antibiotics and steroids that increase the livers workload.
Avoid artificial sweeteners see www.dorway.com

Books

"The Liver Cleansing Diet" by Dr Cabot
contains the eight week eating plan to improve liver function.

"The Healthy Liver and Bowel Book"
lots more liver friendly recipes, vital principles to follow long term for a healthy liver and more detailed information about specific conditions.

"Raw Juices Can Save Your Life"
Dr Cabot's juice book contains carefully designed juices to help with common health problems - this is a complete A to Z Guide of diseases and their specific healing juices.

Juice

Dr Cabot has known about the incredible healing power of raw juices from a very young age. Her grandmother's life was saved by raw juicing back in the 1930s. Raw juices are an incredible powerful healing tool and can improve the function of the liver, bowels and kidneys. This increases the elimination of toxins and waste products from the skin.

Appropriate juice recipes
"Liver Tonic Juice" and "Liver Cleansing Juice" can be found on p116 of Dr Cabot's "Raw Juices Can Save Your Life " book.