Milk Thistle:

Milk Thistle Benefit

The prickly milk thistle has been used to treat various liver problems for more than 2000 years. Many early healers were well acquainted with this valuable plant. The milk thistle is actually a member of the sunflower family, although it features flowers of purple instead of yellow.

In regards to liver function, milk thistle has the ability to stimulate the flow of bile from the liver. It is this bile stimulation that is believed to account for the effectiveness of milk thistle in treating ailments of the liver and aiding digestion.

Modern research into the properties of milk thistle
Modern studies have backed up the findings of these ancient doctors and have substantiated the fact that milk thistle does indeed help to protect the liver from damage, and even has the ability to heal damage that has already been done. In Europe today, many doctors consider milk thistle a preferred treatment for liver disorders, ranging from cirrhosis to hepatitis.

Milk thistle appears throughout the world, including many parts of North America, both as cultivated plants and wild varieties. Many scientific sources will refer to milk thistle by its scientific name, which is silybum marianum, or by its active compounds, known collectively as silymarin. There are concentrated stores of silymarni found in the black fruit of the plant, which are typically harvested at the end of summer.

Other uses of milk thistle
Milk thistle is most closely associated with treating ailments of the liver and digestive system, but it has shown promise in treating a number of other ailments as well. These include gallstones, high cholesterol, allergies, and even skin cancer. Milk thistle is known to be a powerful antioxidant, and it's those antioxidant properties which may be responsible for the protective and healing effects of the herb.

Modern medicine uses an injectible form of milk thistle as a powerful antidote for those who have consumed poisonous mushrooms. The extract has also even been studied for possible use in minimizing the liver damage which often results from chemotherapy. It is thought that milk thistle has the ability to speed up elimination of toxins from the body, due to its effect on the liver and bile secretion.

Milk thistle is available in a wide variety of preparations and forms, including tablets, soft gels, capsules, and tinctures. People using milk thistle to treat liver ailments are often advised to take a standardized extract of 400 to 600 mg every day, ingested in three equal doses. As always, be sure to alert your health practitioner or nutritionist to the herbs you are taking.

Milk thistle tea
Although there are a number of recipes for teas made with milk thistle, most are far too weak to have significant health effects. Teas contain only trace amounts of silymarin, due to the inability of the substance to dissolve well in water. Also, products made from the leaf of the milk thistle are of no medicinal value.

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