Benefits and Side Effects of Milk Thistle

Milk Thistle Benefits for Your Health

       Milk thistle is a plant so named, because of the white veins on its large, spiny leaves.

One of the active ingredients in milk thistle known as silymarin is extracted from the seeds of the plant. Silymarin is trusted and known to have antioxidant properties. This natural remedy is sold as an oral tablet: milk thistle capsule, and liquid extract. People particularly use it as the milk thistle supplement to treat liver conditions.

What Is Milk Thistle?

Milk thistle is native plant to Europe, and was brought to North America by a colonizer. It is now found throughout the eastern USA, California, and South America. A milk thistle plant grows up to two meters high and has large and bright purple flowers.

Milk thistle flower, or Silybum marianum, is a perennial herb that some people believe has medicinal properties. Milk thistle is also famous as the names Saint Mary's thistle, Scotch thistle, and variegated thistle, The seeds contain silymarin, a group of compounds said to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Milk thistle is commonly used as a medicine to treat liver problems, often under the assumption that it will "detoxify" the liver.

Medicinal Properties of Milk Thistle

Dried fruit from milk thistle is consist of flavonoid complex referred to as silymarin. Basically, silymarin consists of three main components known as silidianin, silibinin, and silicristin.. Out of these 3 components, silibinin is the most active, and provides the majority of  advantages delivered by milk thistle.

What Are the Benefits of Milk Thistle?

Various clinical researches have been done which have highlighted the benefits of milk thistle for various health conditions.

Milk Thistle Benefits for Skin Health

Milk thistle oil can be used topically to improve the health of your skin. Milk thistle may support to promote healthy skin. A 2015 study found that milk thistle could help to improve inflamed skin conditions when applied to the skin of mice.

Milk thistle was also found to have antioxidant, and anti-aging effects on human skin cells in a laboratory environment in another study.

Further studies in humans are needed, to identify what benefits can be expected in humans, from applying milk thistle to their skin.

Is Milk Thistle Good for Your Liver?

Does milk thistle really work? There’s conflicting research on the advantages of milk thistle liver detox for health. It may have protective impacts on the liver, preventing damage. There is some proof that milk thistle can heal cirrhosis, and chronic hepatitis, which can be triggered by alcohol, viruses, or autoimmune disease. But specialists say that the evidence isn’t conclusive.

Several studies have also shown that milk thistle can help humans, whose livers have been damaged by industrial toxins, such as toluene and xylene.

There is not enough scientific data to state whether or not milk thistle can help liver issues.(webmd.com)

Helps Balance Blood Sugar

Studies show that taking milk thistle alongside conventional medication can support human with diabetes, reduce blood sugar, and protecting towards insulin resistance.

A 2016 review in the Journal of Diabetes Research, discover giving patients silymarin reduced fasting blood glucose levels. It has also been exposed to lowering 'bad' cholesterol in those with diabetes. Talk to your doctor before trying milk thistle, if you have diabetes.

Preventing Age-Related Decline in Brain Function.

Milk thistle has been used as a natural home remedy for neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease and  Alzheimer’s for over two thousand years.

Its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties mean that, it may be neuroprotective, and may help prevent the decline in brain function you experience, as you age.

In test-tube and animal studies, silymarin has been shown to prevent oxidative damage to brain cells, which may help prevent mental decline.

This study also shows that, milk thistle might reduce the amount of amyloid plaques, in the brains of animals, with Alzheimer's disease.

Amyloid plaques are sticky clusters of amyloid proteins, that can construct between nerve cells as you age.

They are observable in very high numbers in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease, meaning that milk thistle could potentially be used to help heal this difficult condition.

However, there are currently no human studies, studying the effects of milk thistle in humans with Alzheimer's, or other neurological conditions, such as Parkinson's and dementia.

In particular, it is not clear whether milk thistle is well absorbed in humans, to allow sufficient amounts, to pass through the blood flow barrier to the brain. It’s also unknown what doses would need to be determined for it to have a beneficial effect.

An anti-inflammatory

Taking milk thistle may help lowering flare-ups in the body. In a 2015 American study, the herb was display to suppress inflammation in cells, and T-cells (a kind of white blood cell). A separate study in the journal PLOSOne in 2017 discover that silymarin triggers anti-inflammatory activity, in white blood cells.

Risks and Considerations of Milk Thistle

Milk thistle is generally considered safe for most humans. though it does have the potential to create gastrointestinal problems , headaches, and itchiness.

It could possibly cause an allergic reaction, too, especially if you have an allergy to related plants, like marigold, daisies, ragweed,  or chrysanthemums.

Because milk thistle is a supplement, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn't regulate it in the same way they regulate drugs. Therefore, you need to buy milk thistle from a reputable retailer.

As with natural remedies, humans should talk to a doctor, if they want to use milk thistle,.

Milk thistle may interact with several medications. This is a special attention if an individual is already receiving treatment for liver conditions.

Summary

Milk thistle has a range of potential health advantages due to its active ingredient, silymarin, which is known as a antioxidant.

More studies need to be done, before a definitive list of milk thistle benefits can be confirmed.

That said, it is a healthful supplement that may be worth trying alongside conventional treatments.

It is always a great idea to discuss to a healthcare professional, before start out to use milk thistle or other supplements, as it may interact with other medications or conditions. Milk thistle supplements are available for purchase in health food stores, offline and online.