The Consumer Guide to Milk Thistle
In This Guide... Milk thistle is a thorny, weedlike plant (Silybum marianum) native to the Mediterranean. The seeds of the dried flower are used.
Benefits and uses: Milk thistle's long history of medicinal use for liver ailments goes back to the Greeks and Romans. This traditional use has been confirmed by hundreds of scientific studies since the 1930s, conducted mainly in Germany, on milk thistle seed preparations. Many people now take milk thistle regularly to protect the liver from the effects of alcohol, heavy metals, and drugs, and as needed after exposure to solvents, pesticides, bacteria from food poisoning, or other toxins. Milk thistle may help treat cirrhosis, hepatitis, and other liver diseases. In Europe emergency room doctors use a milk thistle-derived drug to save the lives of people who accidentally ingest poisonous deathcap mushrooms. Milk thistle may also have a beneficial effect on the kidneys, pancreas, and gallbladder.
Do scientists know how it works? The active compounds in milk thistle seeds are silibinin and other flavonolignans, especially a combination of these known collectively as silymarin. Studies confirm that silymarin benefits liver health in a number of ways, including stabilizing liver cells’ membranes, helping to regenerate injured liver cells, and acting as an antioxidant to protect liver cells from free radical damage. Silymarin also boosts the organ’s ability to filter toxins from the blood.
Safety: Taking milk thistle products does not seem to cause any adverse effects either immediately or over the long-term. In fact, the young (non-spiny) leaves and the stems were once a consumed as foods in Europe. It may be used by a wide variety of people, including pregnant and lactating women. Its ability to stimulate liver and gallbladder activity may cause a mild and temporary laxative effect in some people.
Benefits and Uses
Do Scientists Know How It Works?
Recent Findings
Safety
What Types Of Milk Thistle Products Are Available?
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- Palasciano, Guiseppe, et al., "The effect of silymarin on plasma levels of malon-dialdehyde in patients receiving long-term treatment with psychotropic drugs," Current Therapeutic Research (1994), 55,5:537–45
- Zi, X., et al., "A flavonoid antioxidant, silymarin, inhibits activation of erbB1 signaling and induces cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors, G1 arrest, and anticarcinogenic effects in human prostate carcinoma DU145 cells," Cancer Res (1998), 58(9):1920–29
- Ahmad, N., et al., "Skin cancer chemopreventive effects of a flavonoid antioxidant silymarin are mediated via impairment of receptor tyrosine kinase signaling and perturbation in cell cycle progression," Biochem Biophys Res Commun (1998), 247(2):294–301
- Soto, C.P., et al., "Prevention of alloxan-induced diabetes mellitus in the rat by silymarin," Comp Biochem Physiol C Pharmacol Toxicol Endocrinol (1998), 119(2):125–29
- Krecman, V., et al, "Silymarin inhibits the development of diet-induced hypercholesterolemia in rats," Planta Med (1998), 64(2):138–42
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