How Does Silymarin Protect the Liver?

Darrell Miller

09/05/15

Date: September 05, 2015 07:45 AM
Author: Darrell Miller
Subject: How Does Silymarin Protect the Liver?

For thousands of years, the flowering herb milk thistle has been used as a natural remedy for many different ailments, including liver problems. The herb is still widely used today – in fact, the University of Maryland Medical Center reports that several scientific studies have shown that milk thistle helps protect the liver from toxins and may provide many other benefits.

How Does Milk Thistle/Silymarin Help the Liver?

So how does this ancient Mediterranean herb help treat present-day liver disorders?  The seeds of milk thistle contain silymarin, a powerful bioflavonoid complex. Silymarin is actually comprised of three different flavonoids: silybin, silydianin and silychristin. Working together, these flavonoids provide antioxidant properties that are believed to help repair damaged liver cells by generating the growth of new ones. These reparative properties make silymarin particularly useful at treating liver damage conditions such as cirrhosis.

For example: in a clinical trial of patients suffering from cirrhosis of the liver, some were treated with daily doses of oral silymarin while a control group was given a placebo. After four years of treatment, the study found that those patients who were given silymarin had a significantly higher survival rate as compared with those treated with the placebo.

In addition to supplying a concentrated boost of antioxidants, silymarin also has anti-inflammation properties which may be helpful in treating hepatitis or general liver inflammation.

How to Take Silymarin

Once silymarin is extracted from milk thistle seeds, it may be taken in a few different forms: Capsule, Liquid form, and Silymarin phosphatidylcholine complex.

The silynmarin phosphatidylcholine complex may offer added liver protection benefits. Studies have shown that it may be easier for the body to absorb than the form from ordinary milk thistle seed extract. This is because phosphatidylcholine helps the silymarin attach to cell membranes, which may block harmful toxins from entering the liver.