subject: What Is Milk Thistle? It Could Have Liver Benefits [print this page] Author: Peter Foremski Author: Peter Foremski
Well, all these years later it's being used for mainly liver and gallbladder problems. More to the point, it's the seeds that are actually used in the treatment of chronic liver diseases and to protect it from toxins. Kind of a liver tonic. Further work is also being done on other medicinal uses and it's potential therapeutic properties. What has drawn the researchers attention is something that's a bit more intriguing. They are actively looking at an extract derived from milk thistle seeds known as silymarin, and how it can be used in treatments, like for example in type 2 diabetes. For the purpose of this article we'll have a brief look at something called Toxin Induced Liver Damage, and how milk thistle has been utilized as a way of alleviating this condition. Research done specifically in this area has suggested that these extracts we've mentioned above, help repair and prevent damage to the liver from toxic medication and chemicals. So, you might be wondering what did they find? Well, one study looked at workers that had been exposed to the vapors from chemicals they were in daily contact with, over many years and quite toxic ones in fact. Split into two groups, one received a standardized milk thistle extract which contained 80% silymarin, and the other were given a placebo. This trial ran for 30 days and the outcome was, that those workers who were on the extract had a better liver function test, than those who were in the placebo group. Maybe there is something that we can interpret from this and use ourselves.About the Author:
