What is milk thistle useful in treating?

Are you tired of feeling sluggish and bloated? Do you want a natural way to keep your liver healthy? Look no further than milk thistle!

Milk thistle, also known by its scientific name Silybum marianum, is a prickly plant with distinctive purple flowers. While it has been used for centuries as a folk remedy for various ailments, modern research has confirmed that milk thistle can provide real health benefits.

So what exactly can milk thistle help with? Here are just some of the conditions that this super-herb may be useful in treating:

Liver Disease

Milk thistle’s most well-known benefit is its ability to support liver health. The active ingredient in the plant – silymarin – has both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This makes it ideal for protecting liver cells from damage caused by toxins such as alcohol and pollution.

Silymarin can even stimulate the production of new liver cells, which means that if you suffer from chronic liver disease such as cirrhosis or hepatitis, milk thistle could potentially help your organ regenerate and function better.

High Cholesterol

If high cholesterol runs in your family or you have poor eating habits, adding milk thistle to your diet might help lower those numbers naturally.

Studies have shown that silymarin works on several levels due to its effective tonifying actions on different body organs/systems; including reducing low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (“bad” cholesterol), while simultaneously increasing high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (“good” cholesterol).

Diabetes

Diabetes affects millions of people worldwide causing an imbalance especially now when people’s diets incorporate sugar-rich foods more often than needed. Although there is currently no cure for diabetes, many sufferers turn to alternative therapies like herbs to help manage their blood sugar levels.

In animal studies conducted on milk thistle, it has been shown that silymarin can help lower blood glucose levels by increasing the effects of insulin in the body. This effect is believed to be partly due to the antioxidant action and liver protecting activities amongst other features of Silybum marianum.

In fact, one study found that people with type 2 diabetes who took 200 mg per day of silymarin had significantly lower fasting blood sugar levels after four months compared to those who took a placebo.

Skin Irritations

Milk thistle’s anti-inflammatory properties make it ideal for treating skin conditions like psoriasis, eczema, or acne; which result from inflammation underneath your skin surface, often induced by free radicals (oxidative stress).

Silymarin’s effective activity against free radical scavengers blocks many unwanted pathways within cells including inflammatory ones specifically targeting cytokines production pathway thereby reducing infection states and irritationthat relate to such skin irritations.

Apply infused oil prepared from dried milk thistle leaves directly onto the affected areas/cell surfaces as needed or take internally according to its indications on any approved supplement recipe book or consult your healthcare practitioner before initiating use of Milk Thistle supplementation into your health care plan.

Hangovers

Ever woken up after a night out feeling like you’ve been hit by a truck? If so then you will know how unpleasant hangovers can be! But did you know that milk thistle might offer some respite?

Milk thistle extract may counteract some symptoms associated with alcohol abuse through its capacity in helping keep normal acid-base balance during metabolism of acetaldehyde; all thanks again top silibinin contained therein!

While this isn’t something we advocate – shoutout drinking responsibly please – adding milk thistle as a parting gift after doing shots could potentially help limit nausea(especially present in people living hepatitis virus), headaches and other adverse side-effects while supporting liver function as needed.

Other Conditions

Of course, milk thistle is not limited to helping the above common ailments. Here are just some of the other conditions for which this herb may be effective:

  • Menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes
  • Arthritis symptoms
  • Some forms cancer diagnosis and management (consult your healthcare practitioner before making this your main therapy please)
  • Gallbladder pain or gallstones in some cases
  • Infertility caused by ovarian cysts

While more concrete evidence is required on most if not all usage indications mentioned, using Silybum marianum products could bear its signatory benefits when supervised appropriately by a qualified health professional. If nothing else Milk Thistle has certainly become renowned over time with references dating back `to Dioscurides’ epoch (see footnote) amongst many cultures worldwide; centuries after we still hold it highly from time immemorial.

So there you have it – did you realize how versatile milk thistle was? Not only can it help keep your liver healthy but also improve upon several other areas that could affect optimal wellbeing functioning, here’s to giving credit where credit’s due – Milk thistle!

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