On the right underside of the liver is the gall bladder. It is a small bag that contains a yellowish fluid called bile. Bile is a solution of cholesterol, bile salts and pigments. The liver makes up to a full quart of bile every day. Some of this stays in the liver and some in the gall bladder - that is until you have a meal. Then bile flows from the gall bladder and liver to a main tube, called the common bile duct, which empties into the small intestine. Bile is a waste product from the liver, but it also helps with digestion. The mineral salts in it break up, or emulsify, fatty foods in the intestine by turning the fats into tiny droplets.
Fact file
Sometimes the gall bladder gets filled with hard lumps, on average about the size of a pea. These are called gallstones. They are made from various substances, chiefly cholesterol and calcium and can sometimes be removed by laser surgery.
