According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, healers have used milk thistle to treat gall bladder and liver ailments for more than 2,000 years. Today, people with alcohol damage and other serious liver problems may turn to milk thistle as a miracle cure. But doctors are divided on milk thistle's true value, especially for those who don't receive other medical treatment. Always consult your doctor before attempting treatment with any herbal therapy.
Origin
The herbal medicine milk thistle comes from Silybum marianum, the tall wild flower known as milk thistle. The plant gets its common name from the milky substance found in its leaves -- but it's the plant's seeds that make milk thistle useful. The seeds contain silymarin, a group of flavonoids linked to the repair and protection of liver cells. Reputable herbal medicine companies sell milk thistle by the amount of silymarin in the capsule, which is ideally standardized to contain between 70 to 80 percent silymarin.
Theory
Milk thistle has a reputation for helping the liver heal from both short-term toxic overload and long-term substance abuse. Liver aliments believed to show improvement from milk thistle include cirrhosis, jaundice and hepatitis C, reports the American Cancer Society. The herbal medicine may assist the liver in removing potentially fatal toxins from the systems of people who have eaten poisonous mushrooms. Along with shielding the liver from the effects of abuse of substances such as alcohol, milk thistle is also believed to rid your body of toxins from overdoses of acetaminophen.
Current Reputation
"American Family Physician" notes that studies on milk thistle's usefulness in protecting the liver are mixed. As a treatment for people who mistakenly ate the "death cap" mushroom, Amanita phalloides, milk thistle "show promise," the journal reports. Some human trials on people with alcohol-related cirrhosis and chronic alcohol liver disease found improved health and lower mortality rates in patients given silymarin, the substance derived from milk thistle seeds. But other studies found no improvement in similarly afflicted patients after taking silymarin. As a preventative therapy for liver disease or other ailments, evidence is even weaker, the journal notes. It gives milk thistle an effectiveness rating of "B" as a treatment for liver disease but a "C" as a preventative medicine.
Recommended Dosage
Doctors consider milk thistle safe, according to the American Cancer Society. In large doses, it may produce an unwanted laxative effect. In rare cases, reported side effects have included diarrhea, nausea, headaches, stomachache and vomiting. Yet even in those reports, the initial complaint, rather than the milk thistle taken for it, may have caused the side effects, notes ACS. The amount you should take, if your doctor approves, depends on the product's formulation. The University of Maryland Medical Center reports that the dosage for standardized milk thistle is usually a total of 280 to 450 mg each day. But some doctors believe a capsule containing a combination of phosphatidylcholine and silymarin helps your body absorb milk thistle's beneficial compounds more easily. If you take a silymarin-phosphatidylcholine formula, the recommendation is two daily doses of 100 to 200 mg.
