Milk Thistle

[BillT]

I'm post tx now and I'm curious if anyone else is taking milk thistle.I started at the beginning of the month after doing a lot of research on it and it seems like it's effective.Right now I'm taking 175mg x3,but I've seen where some people are taking 1000mg x2.Everything I've read about it is positive.Has anyone had any experience with it?

[Lynn K]

I haven't seen anything with conclusive evidence of effectiveness. Most everything I have seen says no conclusive evidence. All I am sure of is it should not harm you.

[CureSeeker]

I tried it once a few years prior to treatment, but didn't feel like it was doing anything.

I'm sort of a supplement junkie who right now feels like she has been taking far too many, lol. 

Anyway, if you feel its helping you, and your Doctor doesn't have any issues with it, go for it.

[Lynn K]

From NCBI Milk Thistle: Effects on Liver Disease and Cirrhosis and Clinical Adverse Effects: Summary

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11896/

Conclusions

Clinical efficacy of milk thistle is not clearly established. Interpretation of the evidence is hampered by poor study methods and/or poor quality of reporting in publications. Problems in study design include heterogeneity in etiology and extent of liver disease, small sample sizes, and variation in formulation, dosing, and duration of milk thistle therapy. Possible benefit has been shown most frequently, but not consistently, for improvement in aminotransferases and liver function tests are overwhelmingly the most common outcome measure studied. Survival and other clinical outcome measures have been studied least often, with both positive and negative findings. Available evidence is not sufficient to suggest whether milk thistle may be more effective for some liver diseases than others or if effectiveness might be related to duration of therapy or chronicity and severity of liver disease. Regarding adverse effects, little evidence is available regarding causality, but available evidence does suggest that milk thistle is associated with few, and generally minor, adverse effects.

[Mugwump]

Canada thistle is edible and quite good to eat, if you know how to use it as a food. I would be more inclined to include the plant in my diet the same way you see some Italian immigrants harvesting  dandelions for the table. The plant root and lower stem is delicious if prepared right.

During the years after my failed interferon tx I ate it. Also I harvested overripe West Coast Baldhip rose buds and made teas and added the skins to my diet. I made jellies and drinks out of berries from dull Oregon grape.

Whether or not any of this helped? I doubt it. But the logic of what I did was there because overripe Baldhip rose buds create variations of xylitol similar to ones that are prescribed in Norway by doctors for difficult cases of bilious colds and flue. West Coast Natives used it for thousands of years to fight colds and flue. And also used the Oregon grape plant to treat jaundice. How and how much is anyone's guess. And this is the problem.

Trusting the sketchy products that are peddled as pills at ridiculous prices for products which do not even have standardized production methods or testing only promotes the snake oil salesmen IMO.

There are a few companies who are more reliable with the information that they put on their pill bottles but by and large the claims made are nebulous with claims that include words like "cleanse the blood and liver" and other holistic catch phrases that mean absolutely squat!

Sorry I just do not trust them and I doubt I ever will.

Eric

 

[HazelAustralia]

I agree that supplements are like the 'fast food' of food sometimes. I believe that globe artichokes have the same nutrient as milk thistle as well as the bitter greens that mugwump mentions (radicchio, dandelion, sticky-weed, endive, arugula). I don't know of any research but I do think that the bitter taste is good for the liver. The rosehips have definitely been shown to have lots of vitamin c and they are delicious and free! Can be made into a cool drink too. All in moderation.