The liver is important for more than you think—including a good immune system, the regulation of blood sugar levels, the handling of waste products—and about 500 other necessary household tasks in the body. Some of the most common liver diseases, such as obesity-related liver disease, now affect more than one in four in Norway, and the numbers are increasing. Liver disease is now the second most important cause of loss of working years in young Europeans (15 to 64 years old), after heart disease.