Milk Thistle

Milk Thistle is a flowering herb, originating in the Mediterranean. The active ingredient is called silymarin. If you want to consume the herb directly, you harvest the seeds. It can also be taken in supplements or in tea, and it can be combined with other herbs for beneficial effects.

There haven’t been extensive studies on the medicinal value of this herb, but it’s been used with great affect by people for several conditions which afflict the liver including cirrhosis, jaundice, hepatitis, and gallbladder disorders. It can be helpful in detoxing the liver, and can reverse liver damage, and protect against damage from agents such as alcohol or other toxins that tend to lodge themselves in the liver.

Milk Thistle has also been credited with improving blood sugar levels and cholesterol levels in people with type two diabetes. Benefits may also include improvement of adrenal disorders such as Addison’s Disease or Cushings, and improvement of IBS (inflammatory bowel syndrome). This herb has been shown to be an anti-inflammatory and it’s an antioxidant. Antioxidants are more powerful than many vitamins and are able to remove free radicals from the body which cause cell damage, and which cause disease and symptoms of aging.

A word of caution is warranted. If you are allergic to ragweed, you should probably avoid ingesting milk thistle. Furthermore, this herb can act similarly in the body to estrogen, so some women should avoid taking this. Women with fibroid tumors, endometriosis, a history of breast, uterine or ovarian cancers should avoid milk thistle. It might also be safest to avoid taking it if you are pregnant or nursing. That being said, the same estrogen-effect could be helpful for men with prostrate cancer.