Some of the conditions that affect women disproportionately are obvious. Women have more breast tissue than men, pregnancy is dangerous in and of itself, and they typically live longer than men, spending their remaining years vulnerable to disease. However, women also need to be mindful of their significant risk when it comes to an organ system that we all have: the digestive tract. Women are surprisingly...
Found just under the liver, sits the gallbladder. This pouch is a storage unit for the liver’s bile, as well as fat, cholesterol and various fluids. This pear-sized balloon is inflated before meals when it is filled with bile. After eating, the balloon then looks flat and deflated. This bile is used to help digests fats. When food is detected, the gallbladder releases bile into the small intestine....