Last night The Husband and I agreed that the Queen’s exit from this world was exactly how we’d like to exit: still in our rights minds, mobile until the near end, disease-free, smiling. And 96 – a ripe old age. Scroll to the end to see my favourite recent article on how best to reach a ripe old age. Or start here to understand how eating liver might help us achieve this. Yes, liver… although the Queen’s favourite dish – I’m reliably informed – was a medium-rare steak.
When I was a child, I regularly ate offal. It was cheap (we had no money, unlike the Queen) and my mother knew it was nutritious. At school, liver and onions was regularly on the lunch menu. But can you find liver or kidneys in the supermarket now? Not where I live. I rarely see it on a restaurant menu either. And my kids tell me it’s no longer served up at school. In fairness, my eldest daughter said her school had served liver occasionally but no one – except her – ate it. Everyone else opted for pizza.
But so what? Well, if you’ve read Younger You: Reduce your Bio Age and Live Longer, Better – an account of Dr Kara Fitzgerald’s study that resulted in a group of older people turning back their biological clocks by 3.23 years following her 8-week programme – you’ll know that liver was a major component of her age-reversal plan. We wrote about Fitzgerald’s programme here.
In fact, Fitzgerald describes liver as ‘an astonishing powerhouse source of methylation-friendly nutrients’ and ‘number-one’ on her list of DNA methylation superfoods.
So, what’s methylation and why does it matter?
Methylation is a biochemical process that takes place in every cell of our bodies, day and night. Think of it as our cells breathing. As each cell metaphorically inhales and exhales, it rids itself of harmful chemicals, it makes white blood cells for our immunity, it makes energy for muscles, it makes neurotransmitters so that we can learn and remember. If we’re stressed and producing too much adrenalin, methylation is the process that breaks it down and metabolises it. Importantly, methylation produces new DNA, repairs existing DNA and turns on and off other DNA. Methylation influences the 1,200 of the 1,500 genes that are turned ‘on’ and most of the 21,000 genes that are lying dormant (turned ‘off’).
As we get older, our bodies are less good at methylation. But if our methylation doesn’t work properly, we’re less able to fend off heart disease, Alzheimer’s, cancer, even depression and anxiety.
But the most important type of methylation is called DNA methylation. This is the process by which our genetic predispositions are kept in check or altered. Sitting on top of every strand of DNA are methyl groups capable of turning our genes off and on. DNA methylation has been described as the punctuation in a sentence – the commas and question marks that enable a chain of letters and words to make sense.
This probably sounds complicated but it’s not really. I’ll give you a very simple example from my own DNA: I carry a gene that makes me more likely to have breast cancer. On top of that DNA sits a series of ‘pipes’ that are constantly opening and closing. If I drink lots of alcohol (a known methylation destroyer), the pipes will weaken. Unable to close, they could allow a tumour to grow unimpeded. If I do lots of walking however (or eat lots of methyl donors), the pipes will remain strong, opening and closing to let the right things in and to keep the wrong things out. For example, effective methylation can turn ‘on’ a gene that produces a tumour-killing protein. This process is known as epigenetics. Kara Fitzgerald and other scientists have discovered that we can help or hinder this process through lifestyle choices.
So where does liver fit in? Liver is her ‘number one’ methyl donor. ‘No other food matches liver’s broad-spectrum methylation support,’ she says. Liver is chock full of the nutrients that best support the methylation cycle. More so than any other of her ‘DNA Methylation Dozen’ – which I’ll come to in a minute.
Going back to my example, this means that the nutrients in liver (folate, B12, betaine, choline, methionine, zinc, vitamin A etc) are exactly what my body needs to keep the bad pipes to my breast cancer gene turned off and the good pipes – those that break down tumours – turned on. This is putting it very simply, but I hope you get the drift.
Incidentally – and you probably know this – all of us are constantly fending off infinitesimal cancerous tumours. And all of us carry genetic weaknesses or predispositions to all sorts of things. One of the reasons they fail to develop into full blown illness is down to how well our bodies methylate.
This week I used grass-fed liver from Swaledale in Yorkshire (where I’ll be on Thursday 22nd September giving walking masterclasses and talking about the power of being on foot – do join me). But there are plenty of other online butchers that sell liver or you can ask your local butcher. I also like the organic chicken livers from Daylesford butchers in London. A typical liver dish costs around £5-6 for four servings, so it’s also a snip.
Because liver is a detox organ, it needs to be as free from contaminants as possible, hence Fitzgerald says our liver should be organic or grass-fed. Otherwise, she suggests taking liver capsules. How much liver to eat? To turn the clock back, Fitzgerald urges us to eat three portions a week. Interestingly, my scan of old cookery books revealed plenty of offal recipes, indicating that liver was a popular dish in the past. Eliza Acton liked calves’ liver, simmered with white wine, parsley, mace, carrots and onions (if you want to know more about how I cooked the recipes of our ancestors and Eliza Acton, I’ve got events coming up in Grassington, Yorkshire and Sevenoaks, Kent – both include tea and cake – please do join me.)
Last week I cooked the dish below, using first lamb’s liver and then beef liver. Both were pronounced delicious by all the family (apart from the vegetarian daughter), although we preferred the lamb’s liver which is a little less pungent. If you can’t stand liver, here are Dr Fitzgerald’s other 11 superfoods for keeping our faulty DNA in check and our good, protective DNA turned ‘on’:
- Green tea
- Eggs
- Cruciferous Vegetables (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, watercress, radishes etc)
- Beetroot
- Rosemary
- Blueberries
- Turmeric
- Seeds
- Salmon
- Shitake mushrooms
- Spinach
And here’s the article I promised on how to get to a ripe old age. It’s well worth a scan, as it’s full of easy, sensible tips.
LIVER WITH ONIONS (serves 4)
Treat this recipe as a blueprint, adding whatever herbs or spices you like. I’ve added mushrooms in some versions, which worked beautifully. If you include rosemary and mushrooms, you’ll have 3 powerful methyl donors in one dish. Serve with spinach and cauliflower – and that’s five methyl donors in one go! The bacon is optional but I’m feeding (grown-up-ish) children so the extra flavour helped the liver go down.
- 350 g lambs’ liver
- 2-3 rashers bacon (optional)
- 2-3 onions, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp seasoned flour
- 2 cups chicken stock (or use red wine or water)
- 2 tbsp port (optional)
- 3 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped
- 2 tsp whole pink peppercorns (optional)
Soak the liver in milk for 30 minutes. While it’s soaking, slice and saute (in butter or olive oil as you prefer) the onion, garlic, bacon and rosemary.
Remove the liver from the milk. Slice it into fork-sized pieces and toss it in the seasoned flour to coat well.
Add the liver to the onions and quickly brown (2-3 minutes). If you’re including mushrooms, slice and add them now.
Pour in the port, hot stock and pink peppercorns.
Bring to the boil. Simmer for 1-2 minutes, season and serve. The liver should be soft and slightly pink inside.
Bonne appetite!
Annabel
PS it’s not the dish in the picture – blame my new laptop which no longer works with my camera!
In the first sentence it says to soak bacon in milk – is that with the liver?
Sorry – soak the liver!! My mistake – will amend asap. Well spotted!
You say in the recipe soak your bacon in milk. Presumably this should read as soak your liver in milk ?
Great article.
Thank you.
Lee
Yes you’re absolutely right! Soak the liver… ! Thank you…
Not an attractive prospect for vegetarians and vegans! Yuck factor very high.
Plenty more things on the methylation list with less yuck factor… the same recipe works with shitake mushrooms and veg stock BTW.
Are chicken livers equally as nutritious – an entry level offal for those of us who have memories of gristly school dinner liver!
Yes – all liver is equal apparently. The key to liver is not to over-cook it – which is what happened at school. 2-3 minutes is all it needs. Good luck!
Haven’t had liver in a while so will try this.
I think you meant to say soak the liver in milk? Or is it indeed the bacon?
Love reading your articles and recipes, so interesting and inspiring, thank you !
Yes – soak the liver (not the bacon!). Thanks for your kind words!
Love this piece. Fascinating and thanks for sharing. Jeanette Hyde has a lovely chicken livers recipe in her gut health recipes book which cooks liver with red onion, pomegranate molasses, butter and lemon juice, served with watercress. It’s delish!
Thank you! That sounds fab. We also like https://agewellproject.com/thinning-ageing-hair-warm-chicken-liver-salad/ and https://agewellproject.com/reinvention-chicken-liver-pate/
Thanks. I’m going to try both of those. I love chicken livers
Thank you so much, Annabel, for the liver and onions recipe in your recent post.
It was wonderful to have the affirmation that liver – and other offal – is back on a healthy menu, having been told not that long ago that it should be a avoided…? I’ll certainly enjoy topping up my methyl donors 😄!
I’m a fan of liver, and have happy memories of my Mum serving a heart meal of it up to Dad when he arrived home from a 12-hour shift … and me sharing it!!
I’m also a fan of your AGE WELL PROJECT. Keep up the fabulous posts and good work on advising us on how to do just that …
If you’re anywhere near Bolton tomorrow, I’ll be serving up a healthy Sunday dinner of butcher-bought lamb’s liver & onions, with mushrooms and a side serving of cauliflower and spinach… YUM!!
Thank you! And your Bolton lunch sounds delicious- I only wish I could join you! Enjoy …
❤️
Lambs liver is my favourite. Seems the stigma around eating offal is still here. Hard to find lamb let alone lambs or calf liver where I’m from.
Thanks for the memory (school dinners), I also remember them serving up kidney soup. Offal was as you said, the cheaper source of food growing up.
PS the butchers always said lambs liver was more tender. Thanks for the recipe. Now I’m on the hunt for liver lol
Good luck! Yes, I grew up on my mother’s kidney soup. Not sure I will ever forget it!
Thanks for this article! I began eating liver about 2 years ago and attribute my recovery from chronic fatigue partly to this. Eating liver once a week made me feel so much better, with more energy and better sleep.
I have slackened off however and find myself back to square one after a second round of covid. Three months later, and I am still not well, so I guess I have long covid! I had the idea to start eating liver again and found your article.
I just wanted to ask you to clarify what size serving do you refer to when you say to eat liver three times a week?
I also wonder why a Mediterranean diet is touted as the gold standard for healthy aging, yet it limits wonderful methylation super foods like egg and liver. Perhaps some people do well on it. I certainly don’t seem to. Cutting out eggs makes me feel awful! Maybe it just comes down to individual genetics? Would love to know your thoughts on this.
I agree. The Med diet with liver sounds my sort of diet! I normally eat a portion the size of my iphone and about 1 cm thick. I’ve discovered venison liver which I rather like! You’re probably right about genetics – if your ancestors had a protein rich diet (farmers perhaps or butchers? or had lots of chickens?) you might be genetically used to eating more? Have a look at your family tree – the answer might be there!