Do I Really Need My Gallbladder?

Before we talk about the gallbladder, we have to talk about bile.

The word “bile” has only negative connotations – a mean person is said to be full of bile, like bitterness. You may say that bile rose in your throat if you were particularly angry. A bilious person has a peevish, ill-natured disposition.

If I told you that you had an organ that stored all your body’s bile, and that this organ had a tendency to get congested with gallstones and could even attack you, most people would say, “Get rid of it! I don’t need something horrible like that lying around in my body!”

I’m exaggerating, but this organ I’m talking about is, yes, the gallbladder. And the surgery to remove it has become very routine. Seems that most people agree that it’s best to just get it out.

But I’m here to say no! Let’s look at this more carefully and understand why bile is actually a great substance, and why we need an organ to store it.

First, where is the gallbladder, anyway? It sits tucked up under the liver on the right side of our abdomen, and it is one of three primary organs of digestion (along with the stomach and pancreas).

The gallbladder’s job is to store and release the bile that the liver manufactures. And bile is what our body uses to digest fats. Without bile, no fat digestion. Think of bile as a soapy substance, which breaks the fat globules into tiny molecules that can be digested easily.

If food moving from the stomach to the small intestine contains fats, a special hormone is sent to the gallbladder to prompt bile to be released at just the right time.

The liver cannot receive this hormone, so without the gallbladder to store the bile until the right time, the liver just drips bile into the small intestine randomly, instead of being timed to release in the presence of food.

A person without a gallbladder will experience inflammation in the small intestine from this constant drip of bile, and this person will not be able to digest fats.