Milk Thistle: More valuable than medicine!
The milk thistle (Silybum marianum) belongs to the asteraceae family and got its name from its spiny leaves. Milk thistle is found everywhere in the world. It is, one might say, a common herb. However, it especially loves Mediterranean temperate climates and we find it in the form of a bush.
In herbal medicine, the seeds from its flowers are mainly used, which are collected towards the end of summer when they are completely dry. And the other parts of the plant are used medicinally but have lower contents of active substances.
Information of interest
Milk thistle has been used since Greco-Roman times, especially to support the liver and detoxify the blood. Since about 1890, pharmacies in the US dispensed the extract to treat congestion of the digestive organs with fatty infiltration. The German pharmacopoeia recognizes the seeds and titrated extracts of milk thistle as therapeutic for digestive disorders and organic damage from poisons and toxins and as a supportive treatment in chronic inflammatory diseases and cirrhosis of the liver.
The benefits
The active substance of milk thistle is silymarin (silybin, silydianin and silycristin). This flavonoid is an
antioxidant. It helps to regenerate damaged liver cells and large parts of tissues, activating protein synthesis in liver cells by increasing the activity of genetic material (DNA-RNA). At the same time, it
protects the liver cells, preventing toxins from entering them and neutralizing toxins that have already entered.
In modern herbal medicine, milk thistle is the main medicinal used to protect the liver from infections, alcohol consumption or chemotherapy. It can help to limit damage to the liver and to renew its cells.