Milk Thistle For Liver Health And Disease Article

	1888 Articles Home \| Health Articles \| Nutrition Articles	Nutrition RSS
Milk Thistle for Liver Health and Disease

Milk thistle is a spiny biennial growing to a height of 5 feet, with white-veined leaves and purple flower heads. Native to the Mediterranean, milk thistle grows wild throughout Europe and is widely naturalized in California and Australia. It thrives in open areas.

Author: Homeherb

Article Tools:

What Is Milk Thistle?
Healers have used the prickly Milk Thistle plant to treat liver ailments for more than 2,000 years. Somehow these early practitioners figured out that preparations of this purple-flowered member of the sunflower family could stimulate the flow of bile from the liver, improving digestion and various liver-related ills.

Interestingly, bile and other bodily fluids, also known as humors, were once associated with different personality types. Because it was thought that black bile was inherent to a melancholic nature, Milk Thistle was prescribed for treating depression and melancholy (which actually means black bile). Today, the word biliousness and the phrase having excess bile are still used to describe negative personality traits.

Milk Thistle grows throughout the world (including North America) in both cultivated and wild form. Many sources refer to the herb, by its botanical name, Silybum marianum, as well as by its active compounds, collectively known as silymarin. Concentrated stores of silymarin are found in the herbs shiny black fruits (seeds), which are typically collected at summers end.

Health Benefits of Milk Thistle:
Although most widely associated with liver complaints, Milk Thistle is also being examined for treating a variety of other disorders, including hangover. As a potent Antioxidant, the versatile Milk Thistle Extract helps prevent highly reactive oxygen molecules called Free radicals from damaging cells throughout the body, but especially in the liver, stomach, and intestines.

An injectable form of Milk Thistle is a powerful antidote to mushroom poisoning. And the oral extract shows promise for minimizing chemotherapy-associated liver damage. This is a function of the herbs antioxidant actions as well as its ability to accelerate the excretion of toxic compounds that can accumulate in the body.

Specifically, Milk Thistle may help to:

Treat acute and chronic liver disease.
Milk Thistle cleanses and therefore fortifies the liver, a vital organ responsible for processing everything from nutrients in foods to medications and chemical pollutants (1,2). The herb partly accomplishes this task by preventing a reduction in concentrations of glutathione, an amino-acidlike compound that is critical to neutralizing toxins. Some studies indicate that Milk Thistle can actually increase glutathione levels by as much as 35%.

Treat alcohol-related liver problems.
Excessive alcohol intake depletes the amount of toxin-neutralizing glutathione in the liver and can cause severe scarring and dysfunction, a condition called cirrhosis. Milk Thistle not only boosts glutathione levels, it also helps to actually repair the liver by promoting the growth of new cells in this large and vital organ.

There have been a number of studies that show beneficial changes in liver toxicity when supplementing with Milk Thistle (8-10). Not all studies have been as positive, however. Larger studies and meta-analyses (comparisons of effects in multiple studies simultaneously) do not report improvement in liver function, and or mortality due to liver disease (6). More high quality large scale studies are needed to assess what if any benefit Milk Thistle has in the treatment of alcohol induced liver disease.

Stopping the growth of breast, prostate or cervical tumors.
In vitro (cellular) and in vivo (animal) studies have shown Milk Thistle components halting the growth and preventing new prostate cancer tumor formation (12-14). Similarly, researchers have shown the active components of Milk Thistle may work in conjunction with conventional cancer drugs to prevent the spread of breast cancer (15). These studies only represent the beginnings of our understanding into the benefits of treating various cancers. Scientists are excited about these preliminary findings and are working toward elucidating the possible benefits of Milk Thistle supplementation in human cancer trials.

Forms of Milk Thistle:
1. Tincture
2. Tablet
3. Softgel
4. Liquid
5. Capsule

For More Details: http://www.homeherb.com/herb.asp?catid=431

About Author

Homeherb offers Nutritional Supplements, Weight Loss, Vitamins, Health Care, Anti aging, Vision Care, Herbal Teas, Natrol, Twin Lab, Now Foods, St. John's Wort, American Ginseng, Black Cohosh, Sports at http://www.Homeherb.com

Article Source: http://www.1888articles.com/author-homeherb-171.html

Milk Thistle for Liver Health and Disease