Bile facts for kids

Bile or gall is a green-yellow fluid. It is secreted from the liver of most vertebrate animals, and is often stored in the gall bladder. Bile helps digest fat.

The components of bile are

• Water
• Cholesterol
• Bile pigments
• Bile salts

The name gall comes from the Greek word cholè meaning green or yellow. The term cholesterol and the illness cholera were named after gall.

Bile is also stored in bile ducts. Often after liver transplants, bile comes out of the body.

Images for kids

• 

  Bile (yellow material) in a liver biopsy stained with hematoxylin-eosin in a condition called cholestasis (setting of bile stasis).

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  Recycling of the bile

See also

In Spanish: Bilis para niños