Milk Thistle

A common plant in our meadows, with its purple flowers protected by formidable thorns, milk thistle is full of health benefits, and more particularly for our liver...

Milk Thistle Overview

With its scientific name silybum marianum, milk thistle, a plant from the Asteraceae family, grows naturally throughout the Mediterranean, in southern Europe, but also in western Asia and northern Africa.

It is commonly known by other names such as: wild artichoke, silver thistle or even Notre-Dame thistle...

Milk thistle is a robust biennial plant, over 1m high, with large pale green leaves edged with very sharp spines. Inside these leaves, numerous white veins give the impression of the presence of milk (which is not the case in reality!). Its purple flowers can be observed from May to August, and produce fruits that resemble sunflower seeds.

A beautiful legend surrounds the story of the milk thistle. In fact, marianum comes from the name of the Virgin Mary who, during her journey through Judea and Egypt to escape from King Herod, hid Christ under a grove of thistles and breastfed him there…

Composition and medicinal properties of milk thistle

The main active agent in milk thistle is silymarin. Silymarin is a flavonoid complex composed of several molecules (silybinin, isosilibin, silychristin, isosilychristin, silydianin etc.) with powerful hepatoprotective properties.

Its antioxidant action , 10 times greater than that of vitamin E for example, will operate by eliminating free radicals and stimulating protein synthesis in the liver. This increase in healthy liver cells gives milk thistle very interesting medicinal properties:

• Milk thistle regenerates liver cells damaged by alcohol, drugs and other harmful substances,
• It decongests the liver , allowing it to play its role as a filter more effectively,
• Milk thistle protects the liver from toxic elements such as chemicals or the poison contained in the death cap, the famous poisonous mushroom,
• It increases the production of glutathione by up to 35%, a molecule responsible for liver detoxification.

Scientific data supports the traditional use of milk thistle

Numerous studies have tested standardized extracts containing at least 70% silymarin on patients with various liver disorders (hepatitis, cirrhosis, alcoholism or poisoning due to chemicals, drugs or fungi).

Although most of these scientific studies had methodological problems, a recent synthesis accompanied by a meta-analysis of these works has made it possible to recognize the medicinal efficacy of milk thistle (1).

The use of milk thistle in medicine has been approved by the European Commission since 1989 and by the WHO since 2002.

Other uses of milk thistle are less well known. It is sometimes used to fight diabetes (2) but also to alleviate depression (3).

Use and dosage of milk thistle

For the liver, it is advisable to take milk thistle in the form of extracts standardized to about 70-80% silymarin, 140 to 210 mg, three times a day.

To relieve digestive problems, you can also consume dried milk thistle seeds, at a rate of 12 to 15 grams per day taken in several doses. Milk thistle can also be used in decoction or tincture, to be taken ½ hour before each meal.

Contraindications and side effects

There are few of them, but it is still not recommended for pregnant and breastfeeding women, as well as people suffering from obstruction of the bile ducts, to consume milk thistle.

Milk thistle can, however, rarely cause allergic reactions, nausea or diarrhea.

Milk thistle, an ally of a healthy liver

With a medicinal use recognized by health authorities associated with several hundred years of use, milk thistle is recognized as a powerful agent promoting liver health. Thanks to this medicinal plant, the digestive, metabolic and detoxifying functions of the liver can be improved.

Its action can also be reinforced by an association with fumitory, black radish or even artichoke.

(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2851903/

(2) https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jdr/2016/5147468/abs/

(3) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278584609004278?via%3Dihub