Milk Thistle More than a great liver herb :: Holistic Healing

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Milk Thistle
by author Terry Willard, ClH, PhD

Even though milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is not a new herb to the health food industry, the studies and clinical evidence of this amazing medicinal botanical continue to expand each year.

In addition to its well-documented effects of protecting and rejuvenating the liver, we now know that milk thistle also has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antifibrotic, antibacterial, and anticancer properties. It lowers cholesterol and arteriosclerosis, reduces metabolic syndrome (syndrome X) and insulin resistance, protects the kidneys, and reduces heavy metal toxicity.

Milk thistle has been used medicinally since the fourth century BCE. Both Greek and Roman doctors utilized it to protect the liver. English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper (1616 to 1654) used milk thistle to treat liver and spleen obstruction.

Milk thistle was so well known for its strong medicinal properties that early settlers brought it over to North America from its native land in Europe. It has since naturalized in North America, both growing in the wild as well as thriving under cultivation.

The modern uses of milk thistle focus on commercial preparations of milk thistle extract that contain 70 percent concentration of silymarin, the active constituent in this herb.

Liver protection
Research on the liver-protecting effects of milk thistle extract began in the 1970s and continues today. More than 150 clinical studies have shown that milk thistle extract protects and regenerates liver cells. It can reverse some hepatitis, repair liver cirrhosis, prevent gallstones, and rejuvenate kidney tissue.

Milk thistle extract’s immunomodulatory activity in liver disease is produced by its hepatoprotective (liver protecting) action and its increase in the activity of antioxidants (superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase), which also explains its protective effects against free radicals.

In multiple studies of patients with acute viral hepatitis, silymarin shortened treatment time and showed improvement in serum levels of liver enzymes (bilirubin, alanine aminotranferease or ALT, and aspartate aminotransferase or AST). We have found that taking milk thistle along with shiitake, maitake, and coriolus mushrooms enhances milk thistle’s success in treating hepatitis and other liver complaints.

Cholesterol
It has been shown that patients taking milk thistle extract decrease the manufacture of liver cholesterol, as well as overall blood cholesterol, while increasing bile, cholate, and bilirubin excretion. Fourteen patients were given 420 mg milk thistle extract daily for three months, showing a decrease in total cholesterol as well as bad cholesterol. This effect is reflected in a reduction of atherosclerosis.

Diabetes
Silymarin shows promise in the treatment of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes because of its strong stimulating effects on the insulin receptor sites and by protecting tissues in insulin- dependent diabetics.

Anticancer
Silybin—the key component in silymarin—and silymarin itself have shown therapeutic efficacy in many forms of cancer, demonstrating cell growth inhibition in human breast and cervical carcinoma cells. Prostate cancer researchers theorize that silybin may synergize the therapeutic effects of the antibiotic doxorubicin in prostate cancer cells, making it a strong candidate for combination chemotherapy.

Other functions
Silymarin has a potent antibacterial activity, having inhibited gram-positive bacteria (those that are stained dark blue or violet) by reducing ribonucleic acid (RNA) and protein synthesis in these bacteria.

Silybin may also have antiallergic activity, as shown by its effect on histamine release in humans. Researchers theorize that silybin stabilizes membranes, possibly by interfering with calcium influx.

Silybin inhibition of human T-lymphocyte activation has also been reported, suggesting that the herb extract may potentially protect the liver in acute and chronic liver injury.

Dosage
The dosage of milk thistle is 200 to 600 mg of 70 percent extract, three times daily. Straight tinctures and the ground-up herb are not as effective as the concentrated extract. While milk thistle extract works well on its own, it has been our experience that milk thistle extract is most effective if combined with helping herbs. The botanicals we most often use with milk thistle are black radish, dandelion root, ginger root, parsley root, and burdock root.

Both human and animal studies show no chronic or acute toxicity to milk thistle, even in large doses. Milk thistle extract has been used for many health issues and is considered the medicine of choice for protecting the liver, kidney, and other capillary-rich tissues by most herbalists and naturopaths.

Terry Willard, ClH, PhD, is a practitioner, teacher, and director of the Wild Rose College of Natural Healing and author of Flower Essence: Emotional Alchemy and Spiritual Evolution (Wild Rose College, 2007).

Source: alive #317, March 2009

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Vitamin D may be one of the most important nutrients for preventing a host of diseases and improving longevity. This month's Research Watch discusses the new research about this long-overlooked vitamin and how it may be critical to long-term health.

Pet Therapy
"He's saved my life so many times, my mom says to me. "He's figured out when my blood sugars are low. Living with diabetes, my mom often enters a state called hypoglycemic unawareness, in which she can't recognize when her blood sugar levels become dangerously low-but her beloved Maltese Cross Paddy can.

Acne's Oily Secret
From sunburn to psoriasis, acne to eczema, inflammation is often the common thread in unwanted skin conditions. Now, as nutritional medicine advances, it is becoming increasingly clear that dietary choices can influence inflammation in all parts of the human body, including the skin.

Potent Pomegranates
In ancient cultures, pomegranates were symbols of life, regeneration, health, and vitality. In Babylon and Persia, soldiers chewed pomegranate seeds before battle, believing that the exotic fruits would reward them with superior skills and invincibility. The Egyptians placed pomegranates in King Tut's tomb, to help him in his afterlife.

Hanging Down Diabeties
This month's Research Watch examines the growing body of research linking a mother's weight before, during, and after pregnancy to the rising rates of type 2 diabetes.

Here We Go Round the Mulberry Leaf
Many people associate mulberry with the Mother Goose rhyme that goes: "Here we go round the mulberry bush, yet this plant has a much longer history of use.

5 Tips for a Successful Detox
Watch late-night television and you'll notice several commercial breaks featuring ads promising relief for digestive woes. Over 20 million Canadians are affected by digestive disorders; tummy troubles cost about $8 billion a year.

Probiotics
There is a newfound interest in probiotics, and food companies haven't missed a beat. They have put these latest nutritional money-makers into flavoured sticks, special drinks, yogourts, cheese, and anything else you can put a bite on.

Deal Out Cancer
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, about 40 percent of women and nearly 45 percent of men in this country will face a personal battle with this fearful disease.

Cholesterol truths
Managing cholesterol is a cornerstone of modern medical care. Patients will say, "I have high cholesterol as if it is a disease, but it is not. High cholesterol is only one risk factor (and not a particularly predictive one) for eventually developing cardiovascular disease.

Herbal Cleansing
Plants cleanse and revitalize our bodies from the inside. Our body systems are designed to utilize the benefits of plants, and we may suffer chronic illness and premature aging if we do not consume enough botanical bounties.

Type 2 Diabetes
Currently, more than 1.8 million Canadians have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. This diabetes used to be considered a disease of late onset; however, it is now being diagnosed in more young people then ever before.

Check your Chocolate
Over the last decade, the medicinal value of cocoa has been the focus of scientific scrutiny. For example, researchers from the United Kingdom found that cocoa is rich in naturally occurring polyphenols, plant chemicals with antioxidant activity.

Great Guggulipids
Studies conducted on the herb guggul have yielded promising results in the treatment of high cholesterol. Recently, scientists have been doing an in-depth guggul search.

Optimize Your Kidney Function
Often overlooked when starting a cleanse, most people are unaware of the important role the kidneys play in removing toxins from the body.

Carb Balancing Act
Making headlines today is something called the GI diet—a carb balancing act recommended by the Canadian Diabetes Association and the World Health Organization.