Can You Take Freeze-Dried Beef Liver Capsules Every Day?
Wellness culture has a tendency to find a good thing and take it to an extreme.
"Oh, this is good for me? More must be better?"
Liver has definitely fallen into that trap because beef liver is one of the most nutrient-dense foods you can eat. But more of a good thing does not always equal better. Just read my story on taking my "healthy" lifestyle to an extreme and losing my period.
In fact, because liver contains such concentrated amounts of certain nutrients, we do not recommend eating a full serving of liver every single day.
So if we don’t recommend eating liver every day, why do we recommend taking our beef liver capsules daily?
It comes down to dose. Taking a small amount of freeze-dried beef liver each day is very different from sitting down to a full serving of fresh liver every day.
Let us explain.
How Nutrient Dense is Beef Liver?
There’s a reason liver is often called “nature’s multivitamin.” Ounce for ounce, it’s one of the most nutrient-dense foods you can eat, naturally providing an impressive concentration of micronutrients including preformed vitamin A, vitamin B12, folate, copper, iron, choline and other B vitamins. (Lear more here).
And unlike a multivitamin that isolates nutrients, often in mega doses, and puts them together in a pill, these nutrients naturally occur within the food itself, in ratios and doses that exist together as nature intended.
Vitamin A is a great example. Liver contains preformed vitamin A, which is different from the provitamin A carotenoids found in plant foods. Preformed vitamin A is already in a form the body can use and plays important roles in vision, immune function, reproduction, growth and development. Pretty cool! (And no it's not toxic).
But liver’s incredible nutrient density is also exactly why we don't subscribe to the idea that if some is good, more must be better.
Should You Eat Beef Liver Every Day?
We don't recommend it.
A full serving of beef liver every single day isn't necessary and could result in very high intakes of certain nutrients over time.
Two worth paying attention to are preformed vitamin A and copper.
Unlike some nutrients that the body readily gets rid of, vitamin A is fat soluble and can accumulate in the body. The established tolerable upper intake level for preformed vitamin A for adults is 3,000 mcg RAE per day from food, beverages and supplements. Chronically consuming excessive amounts can cause adverse effects. (Learn more here about vitamin A toxicity and liver).
Copper is another essential nutrient that we absolutely need, but again, more isn't necessarily better. The adult tolerable upper intake level for copper is 10 mg per day, and chronically excessive copper intake can cause adverse effects, including liver damage.
None of this means liver is unhealthy or toxic! Quite the opposite actually. It means liver is an incredibly nutrient-dense food that doesn't need to be consumed in massive quantities to contribute meaningful nutrition to your diet. Dose matters.
So Why Can You Take Freeze-Dried Beef Liver Capsules Every Day?
This is where people understandably get confused. If we wouldn't tell you to sit down with a giant plate of liver every day, why does our bottle tell you to take your capsules every day?
Because...taking our liver capsules every day does NOT = eating a full serving of liver every day.
Think of our capsules more like a daily “microdose” of liver. Instead of eating a full serving of liver at once, you're consuming a much smaller amount consistently, that over time, adds up to how much liver one would naturally consume in their diet.
And if you think about how organ meats would have traditionally been consumed, this makes sense.
An animal only has one liver.
When an animal was harvested, the liver was one part of that animal, shared and consumed alongside all of the other meat it provided. You weren't getting a brand new liver to eat every single day. Organ meats were valuable foods, but their availability was naturally limited by the animal itself.
Our approach takes that same basic principle and makes it practical for modern life. Rather than eating a full serving of liver every day, you're spreading a much smaller amount out over time.
Are Freeze-Dried Beef Liver Capsules Less Nutritious Than Eating Liver?
We want to clear up another misconception here.
Our beef liver capsules are not less than real liver. They ARE liver.
We start with 100% grass-fed New Zealand beef liver and freeze-dry it before putting it into gelatin capsules.
We specifically chose freeze-drying because it removes water from food at low temperatures under vacuum. Research on food preservation has found that freeze-drying can retain nutritional and biological qualities particularly well compared with conventional higher-temperature drying methods.
That doesn't mean we're claiming a capsule is “better” than fresh liver. It's not a competition. This is another place where wellness culture can get a little carried away.
We’ve become obsessed with optimizing everything. Finding the cleanest, purest, freshest, most nutrient-dense, absolute BEST possible version of something. And somewhere along the way, if you can’t or don’t want to do the “best” version, we’ve decided it’s somehow not worth doing at all. (We speak more on this here).
But nutrition doesn’t have to be another thing we perfect.
If you love buying fresh liver, preparing it and eating it regularly, amazing. Eat the liver. We actually recommend that! But, if you want the benefits of incorporating liver into your diet but realistically know you’re not going to cook it every week, that’s exactly why we made it convenient.
So Why Take Beef Liver Capsules?
We will ALWAYS be food first. If you're over there eating liver and onions and genuinely enjoying yourself, carry on. 😂 You probably don't need us.
We didn't create Jool because we think real food needs to be replaced with supplements. We created it because we also live in the real world. And for a lot of people, buying, preparing and eating liver regularly just isn't happening.
We took a food we believe is worth incorporating into your diet and made it ridiculously convenient to actually do so. It's ancestral nutrition for the modern world.
Because sometimes the “best” option is simply the one you'll actually do consistently.
Want to Add Liver to Your Diet?
Try our 100% grass-fed New Zealand Freeze-Dried Beef Liver today.
Back to Education
