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Milk
Thistle Information Page
Copyright© 1995
by The Herb Quarterly. All rights reserved.
The following is an excerpt of an article that appeared
in the summer 1995. The Herb Quarterly Reprinted by
permission.
Milk Thistle:
Nature's Liver Protector
By Michael Castleman
Mainstream medicine
has little to offer those with disease of the liver. "Most
liver treatment," says herbal medicine authority Varro Tyler,
Ph.D., the Lily distinguished professor of pharmacognosy
(natural product medicine) at Purdue University, is simply
supportive." Doctors keep patients comfortable and away
from liver-damaging drugs, alcohol, and viruses until the
organ can heal itself (if it can).
However, liver healing
could be significantly spurred by a remarkable herb that
has been hiding in plain sight for almost 2,000 years. It's
milk thistle (Silybum marianum). This common herb's value
against liver disease has been demonstrated in more than
100 rigorous scientific experiments. Unfortunately, the
vast majority of these studies have been European, mostly
German, and few mainstream American physicians read German
botanical medicine journals. As a result, they are in the
dark about milk thistle's astonishing liver-protective powers.
Mary's Milk
Milk thistle is native
to the Kashmir region of India and Pakistan, but now grows
throughout the temperate world. The plant grows from five
to ten feet tall, and has large prickly leaves and reddish
purple flowers with sharp spines that resemble artichokes.
When de-spined, milk thistle leaves are edible, and some
vegetable gardeners cultivate the plant as a substitute
for spinach. When broken or crushed, the stems and leaves
exude a milky white juice, hence this herbs's name. Milk
thistle's specific name, marianum, comes from an ancient
legend that its leaf veins turned white after being touched
by a drop of the Virgin Mary's breast milk.
Milk thistle has been
used in traditional herbal medicine since the first century,
when the Roman naturalist, Pliny the Elder (AD. 23-79),
wrote that the plant's milky juice was good for "carrying
off bile." (Today "bile" denotes a product of the gall bladder,
part of the liver, which assists in the digestion of fats,
but in ancient times, bile was used more generally to describe
any internal fluid.) The noted 16th century British herbalist,
John Gerard, was the first to recommend milk thistle for
liver problems, though his prescription was oblique. He
actually suggested the herb for "expelling melancholy,"
which physicians at the time considered a liver ailment.
Half a century later, Britain's most famous herbalist, Nicholas
Culpepper, was the first to recommend milk thistle specifically
for liver disorders. By the 19th century, German physicians
were using a tincture prepared from milk thistle seeds (actually
the plants seed like fruits) to treat jaundice and other
liver diseases. America's 19th century eclectic physicians,
who specialized in botanical medicines, adopted the herb
for liver ailments and for intestinal cleansing.
With the rise of the
modem pharmaceutical industry, U.S. research of herbal medicines
declined considerably. Fortunately, this did not happen
in Germany, where in 1949, scientists noticed that milk
thistle seemed to protect animal livers from poisoning with
highly toxic carbon tetrachloride. In 1968, scientists isolated
the three specific liver-protective molecules in milk thistle
- silibinin, silidianin, and silicristin - now known collectively
as silymarin [ milk thistle extract ].
Studies Galore
More than 100 studies
have confirmed silymarin's [ milk thistle extract ] liver-protective
value. Here is a brief overview of what researches have
discovered:
* Alcoholic
Cirrhosis. A 1989 report in the Journal of
Hepatology (study of the liver) described a study involving
170 people with advanced alcoholic cirrhosis, an often fatal
condition, and the nation's 11th leading cause of death,
claiming 25,000 lives each year. The study participants
were divided into two groups. One received 200 mg of milk
thistle extract (140 mg of silymarin [ milk thistle extract
]) three times a day, the other received a medically inactive
look-alike placebo. Both groups were followed for four years.
During that time, the death rate in the placebo group was
about 60 percent, but among those taking silymarin [ milk
thistle extract ], only 40 percent died, a highly statistically
significant difference. Other studies have shown that silymarin
[ milk thistle extract ] provides similar benefits for people
suffering from cirrhosis.
* Death cap
mushroom poisoning. The common wild mushroom, Amanita
phalloides, is known as the "death cap" for a good
reason. It takes only a handful of this widely distributed
fungus to kill an adult, less to kill a child. Standard
medical treatment - activated charcoal - is not particularly
effective. Amanita mushroom ingestion proves fatal in about
half of the cases. Twenty years ago, pilot studies showed
that silymarin [ milk thistle extract ] treatment substantially
reduced amanita-poisoning deaths in animals fed the mushroom.
Subsequently, several human studies were launched. In one
German hospital test, 60 consecutive people with amanita
poisoning were given intravenous silymarin [ milk thistle
extract ]. None died. Other studies have produced results
that are similar, though not as spectacular. (However, the
success of silymarin [ milk thistle extract ] in treating
amanita poisoning should not encourage anyone to
go mushroom hunting without training in amanita avoidance.
Unless your an experienced hunter, the only place to pick
mushrooms is at a produce market.)
* Hepatitis.
Hepatitis means liver inflammation. It is not one disease,
but several, most of which are caused by different viruses
that attack liver cells. The three most common forms are
hepatitis A, B, and C. Hepatitis A is food borne. Hepatitis
B and C are blood borne and sexually transmitted. Mainstream
medicine treats all forms of hepatitis with rest and avoidance
of alcohol and other drugs and toxins that tax the liver.
However, silymarin
[ milk thistle extract ] is a more effective approach. In
one study, 77 people with hepatitis were divided into to
groups, one treated with silymarin [ milk thistle extract
], the other with a placebo. Average recovery time for the
placebo-takers was 43 days, but those who took silymarin
[ milk thistle extract ] recovered in an average of just
29 days.
* Gallstones.
Up to 10 percent of Americans are estimated to
have gallstones, little pebbles that develop in the gallbladder.
Some cause no symptoms, but many cause abdominal pain, sometimes
severe enough to require surgical removal of the gallbladder.
Most gallstones are formed from cholesterol, and then precipitates
out as stones. A low-fat, low-cholesterol diet helps prevent
gallstones. So does silymarin [ milk thistle extract ].
In one study, people with gallstones were given 420 mg of
silymarin [ milk thistle extract ] a day. Without diet changes,
after several weeks, they showed significant reductions
in the cholesterol concentration of their bile, which minimized
the risk of stone formation.
* Liver Function
Tests. The liver metabolizes all drugs, and powerful
medications often stress the liver, producing abnormal liver
function tests that sometimes require physicians to stop
drug treatment people need. Silymarin [ milk thistle extract
] helps normalize liver function, allowing those who must
take liver-harming medications to do so with less risk of
liver damage. In one study, 66 women taking anticonvulsant
or psychiatric medications showed abnormal liver-function
tests. They began taking silymarin [ milk thistle extract
] in addition to their medication, and 52 of them showed
significant improvements in liver function.
* Occupational
Toxic Chemical Exposure. Like drugs, toxic chemicals
also stress the liver, causing liver-function tests to register
abnormal results. European studies show that silymarin [
milk thistle extract ] renormalizes liver-function tests
in workers who produce pesticides, and in those exposed
to toxic heavy metals, for example, lead and cadmium.
* Psoriasis.
A few European studies suggest that silymarin [
milk thistle extract ] may even help treat the scaly skin
patches of psoriasis.
How Silymarin [ milk
thistle extract ] works
Silymarin [ milk thistle
extract ] works in three ways. It strengthens the outer
membranes of liver cells, preventing penetration by liver-damaging
substances. This accounts for its effectiveness against
amanita mushroom poisoning. Both silymarin [ milk thistle
extract ] and the mushroom toxins bind to the same sites
on liver cell membranes. As silymarin [ milk thistle extract
] blood levels increase, the milk thistle extract occupies
the cell-membrane receptor sites, displacing the amanita
toxins.
Silymarin [ milk thistle
extract ] also protects liver cells because of its powerful
antioxidant action. Antioxidants neutralize cell damage
caused by chemically unstable oxygen molecules formed by
high-fat diets, smoking, and other toxic substances. The
best known antioxidants are Vitamin A (beta-carotene), Vitamin
C, Vitamin E, and the mineral selenium. However, in the
liver, silymarin [ milk thistle extract ] is more than 10
times as potent an antioxidant as Vitamin E.
Finally, silymarin
[ milk thistle extract ] inhibits the action of the enzyme
largely responsible for inflammation in hepatitis.
As far as scientists
know, silymarin [ milk thistle extract ] does not interfere
with the liver's metabolism of drugs, so it does not interfere
with the action of medications.
Preventive Medicine?
You don't have to munch
amanita mushrooms to stress your liver. Every day we're
exposed to pollutants, pesticides, food additives, and other
substances that the liver must detoxify. In addition, anyone
who drinks alcohol or takes any medication - either prescription
or over-the-counter drugs - boosts the liver's workload,
and damages some liver cells in the process. Fortunately
for all of us, the liver is quite large. Its the second
largest organ, after the skin, so you can lose millions
of liver cells and still function normally. But why lose
even a single liver cell if you don't have to?
Recently, Scandinavian
researchers tested silymarin's [ milk thistle extract ]
effect on livers that were stressed but not seriously diseased.
They selected 106 consecutive patients who had abnormal
liver-function tests from alcohol use, but who did not have
cirrhosis. Half took silymarin [ milk thistle extract ]:
the other half received a placebo. After four weeks, the
placebo group showed no change in liver-function, but the
silymarin [ milk thistle extract ] group showed highly significant
improvement, in some cases, complete normalization of liver-function,
despite their alcohol consumption. Perhaps we all should
take silymarin [ milk thistle extract ]. Robert McCaleb,
president of the Herb Research Foundation in Longmont,
Co., does: "If I worked in an occupation [that stressed
the liver], I would take milk thistle regularly, once each
workday morning. [but I don't, so] I take two tablets before
working with paints or solvents, and I never take aspirin
acetaminophen (tylenol) without also taking milk thistle.
Finally, I always take milk thistle along when traveling
because almost invariably I find myself at a cocktail party"
(Sage Counsel).
The Herb Quarterly
is a recommended publication for anyone with an interest
in herbs. Articles such as this, as well as articles on
Essiac and the Hoxsey formula have all appeared in the magazine.
For subscription information call 800-371-HERB (4372) or
write:
The Herb Quarterly
PO Box 689
San Anselmo CA 94979-0689
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