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Don’t put undue stress on the liver. Avoid smoking and harmful chemicals, especially cleaning solvents and pesticides. The most important dietary guidelines for supporting good liver function also support good general health: avoid saturated fats, refined sugar, caffeine and alcohol, drink at least six glasses of water each day, and consume plenty of vegetables and legumes for their high fibre and nutrient content.

Certain foods contain nutrients your body needs to detoxify. These include garlic, onions, eggs and other high-sulphur foods, cabbage-family vegetables (especially broccoli, brussels sprouts and cabbage), green foods (wheat grass juice, chlorella and spirulina), and herbs and spices (dandelion, turmeric and licorice).

What Supplements Promote Liver Health?

If you are healthy and follow the dietary recommendations above, then a high-potency multiple vitamin and mineral supplement may be all you need. However, if you are suffering from impaired liver function, especially chronic hepatitis, then several unique compounds can give you additional support. Since the following work synergistically, combining their use will produce even better results.

• Glucuronate is used by the liver to bind to toxins such as hormones, food additives and cigarette smoke, and helps eliminate them from the body. Taken as a supplement, glucuronate reduces the stress on the liver and enhances the liver’s ability to detoxify. Clinical studies have shown glucuronate supplementation can improve liver function even for liver impairment due to alcohol abuse, acute and chronic hepatitis, exposure to toxic substances and diabetes.


• Alpha-lipoic acid is a sulphur-containing substance necessary for the production of cellular energy. An effective antioxidant, alpha-lipoic acid protects the liver from free radical damage and also helps promote detoxification. Preliminary clinical evidence has shown benefits to people with hepatitis and cirrhosis of the liver.


• Silybin phytosome is a special extract of milk thistle bound to phosphatidylcholine. A growing body of research indicates that silybin phytosome is better absorbed and produces better results than regular milk thistle extract. One of the most potent liver-protecting substances known, silybin phytosome acts as an antioxidant and free radical scavenger and stimulates formation of new liver cells.


• Schizandra berry extract has been a classic component in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries. Some of the effects noted in scientific studies include antioxidant effects, anti-stress action and liver protection against chemical damage.

Can These Natural Products Be Used For Hepatitis?

Absolutely. They are especially helpful for people suffering from chronic hepatitis (inflammation of the liver) and the most serious form, chronic hepatitis C (CHC). An estimated five million people in the United States and Canada are infected with the CHC virus, and as many as 200 million worldwide (roughly five percent of the world’s population).

The drug of choice in conventional medicine for chronic hepatitis is alpha-interferon, a very expensive treatment that benefits only about one-third of cases. Fortunately, natural compounds such as glucuronate, alpha-lipoic acid and silybin phytosome exert benefits of their own and may also improve the effectiveness of alpha-interferon.

Michael T. Murray, ND, is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities on natural medicine. He is a graduate, faculty member and trustee of Bastyr University in Seattle, Wash. He is co-author of A Textbook of Natural Medicine (Churchill Livingstone, 1999)and the best-selling Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine (Prima, 1998). Dr. Murray is director of product development and education for Natural Factors.

Source: alive #242, December 2002