Milk thistle concentrate
This ingredient can be found in: Pop A Purple | Pop A Green
Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is a flowering plant native to many parts of the world. It has traditionally been used as a “liver tonic” to protect the liver from toxins and treat liver diseases. More recently, it has been extensively researched for its liver protection properties.
Milk thistle contains a strong antioxidant, silymarin, which protects cell membranes, scavenges free radicals, and stimulates protein synthesis. Silymarin also have anti-inflammatory properties and reduces blood cholesterol, helps psoriasis, and helps prevent cancer.
Taken in combination with aloe vera, milk thistle is able to reverse liver injury from the toxic solvent carbon tetrachloride, including fatty liver, cell necrosis, and inflammation. Milk thistle is able to protect the liver from iron overload and from the common medication acetaminophen, which can also cause liver damage at high doses. Other conditions that milk thistle protects against include radiation, viral hepatitis, and lack of oxygen. In addition, it shows promise as protection against certain cancers, neurological damage, diabetic kidney damage, and liver changes in malaria.
Long-term excessive alcohol can cause fatty liver disease and cirrhosis. Along with abstinence from alcohol, milk thistle was able to improve chronic alcohol liver disease in most patients in several studies.
The most dramatic demonstration of milk thistle’s liver protective properties is its ability to prevent liver toxicity from Aminita mushrooms, the world’s most toxic mushrooms. Amanita mushrooms contain 2 extremely potent toxins, amanitin and phalloidin, which cause death in about 30% of the poisoning cases in the US and Europe. When tested in mice, milk thistle prevented liver toxicity in 100% of the mice when given within 10 minutes of mushroom ingestion, and prevented severe liver damage and death when given within 24 hours. In another study, no dogs died from mushroom ingestion when given milk thistle 5 to 24 hours afterwards, compared to 33% of dogs who did not receive milk thistle. Importantly, milk thistle was also extremely effective in humans, even when given up to 3 days after poisoning.
References
- Silybum marianum (milk thistle). Altern Med Rev. 1999 Aug;4(4):272-4. View Source
- Kim SH, Cheon HJ, Yun N, et al. Protective effect of a mixture of Aloe vera and Silybum marianum against carbon tetrachloride-induced acute hepatotoxicity and liver fibrosis. J Pharmacol Sci. 2009 Jan;109(1):119-27. View Source
- Luper S. A review of plants used in the treatment of liver disease: part 1. Altern Med Rev. 1998 Dec;3(6):410-21. View Source
- Pradhan SC, Girish C. Hepatoprotective herbal drug, silymarin from experimental pharmacology to clinical medicine. Indian J Med Res. 2006 Nov;124(5):491-504. View Source




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