Milk Thistle Supplement

About Milk Thistle Supplement

Milk Thistle, or Silybum marianum, is the quintessential herb for liver health. Not only does it protect the liver from damage, but it also helps to regulate many hepatic functions, such as cell permeability and inhibition of collagen fibre deposition which is related to cirrhosis.

Milk Thistle contains Silymarin, which is composed of Silybin, Silydianin and Silychristin. Silybin is believed to carry the most potent health effects, and makes up approximately 50-70% of Silymarin.

The Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine reported in 2015 that evidence is accumulating for the use of this miraculous herb for a great deal more than just liver health too. It was suggested in this paper that Milk Thistle may be used for kidney health, blood lipid management, cardiovascular disease prevention, insulin resistance, cancer and even Alzheimer's disease prevention. This makes Milk Thistle a potentially much more efficacous herbal medicine than clinicians had first thought. 

The liver is the heaviest internal organ, weighing in at an average 1.5 kilograms. It functions as both an endocrine and exocrine gland, meaning that not only does it synthesize and release hormones, such as IGF-1, but also excretes alkaline bile to emulsify dietary fats. The liver certainly does do a lot for us, as well as provide major detoxification pathways to keep our chemical burden minimal. Milk Thistle is one of the most helpful herbs for supporting general liver health, particularly for social or weekend alcohol consumers.