Milk Thistle

Milk thistle has a long history of use in the West as a remedy for depression and liver problems. Recent research has confirmed that milk thistle has a remarkable ability to protect the liver from damage resulting from alcoholic and other types of poisoning, the best known being paracetamol. The whole milk thistle plant is astringent, bitter, cholagogue, diaphoretic, diuretic, emetic, emmenagogue, hepatic, stimulant, stomachic and tonic. Milk thistle is used internally in the treatment of liver and gall bladder diseases, jaundice, cirrhosis, hepatitis and poisoning.
Milk thistle is harvested when in flower and dried. Silymarin, an extract from milk thistle seed, acts on the membranes of the liver cells preventing the entry of virus toxins and other toxic compounds and thus preventing damage to the cells Silymarin from milk thistle also drastically increases the activity of glutathione peroxidase, the main antioxidant enzyme in the liver. Milk thistle also dramatically improves liver regeneration in hepatitis, cirrhosis, mushroom or paracetamol poisoning and other diseases of the liver. German research suggests that silybin (a flavonoid component of milk thistle seed) is clinically useful in the treatment of severe poisoning by Amanita mushrooms. Milk thistle seed extracts are produced commercially in Europe. Regeneration of the liver is particularly important in the treatment of cancer, since this disease is always characterized by a severely compromised and often partially destroyed liver. A homeopathic remedy is obtained from equal parts of milk thistle root and the seed with its hulls still attached. Milk thistle is used in the treatment of liver and abdominal disorders.
Milk thistle affects the enzyme systems in the liver that are responsible for the detoxification of drugs and other toxins. Because of this, it is quite possible that milk thistle could make the body clear drugs out of the system faster; accordingly if you are on drugs of any sort you should probably consult your doctor before taking milk thistle products.