Milk thistle benefits? May depends on why you are taking it
Whether taking an herbal supplement is good for you or not depends on what you are taking it for.
This past week, Reuters and HealthDay reported on a study published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association (JAMA) showing that milk thistle had little effect on liver function in people with hepatitis C.
The active ingredient in milk thistle is silymarin, extracted from the seeds, and has been thought to have liver-protective effects and regenerative properties for more than 2,000 years, according to the National Cancer Institute. Ancient Greeks wrote about using the milk thistle for snake bites and “carrying off bile.” Today, it is widely available in supplement form and sold over-the-counter.
Hepatitis C results from a viral infection and can be difficult to treat. More than 3 million Americans are infected according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and it becomes a chronic disease in 75 percent to 85 percent of those infected and can lead to liver cancer. Before 1992 it was often transmitted through blood transfusions and organ transplants. Now it is more commonly spread by sharing needles to inject drugs, or accidental needle stick injuries to healthcare workers.
In the JAMA study, 154 people with such chronic hepatitis C infections, which had not responded to conventional treatment were randomly assigned to receive one of two doses of silymarin or a look-alike sugar pill, or placebo. The two doses of silymarin of 450 mg and 700 mg three times a day were much higher than normal doses.
All of the participants had their liver function measured before starting the trial and then again after taking the supplements for six months. The results showed that liver function in the two silymarin groups did not improve any more than that of the placebo group.
What Reuters and HealthDay did not report is that there have been small studies showing that silymarin might benefit people with type 2 diabetes. An Iranian study published in Phytotherapy Research 2006, and reported by WebMD suggested that milk thistle extract might help people with type 2 diabetes control their blood sugar.
In that study 51 participants with type 2 diabetes were randomly assigned to conventional treatment plus silymarin supplements three times a day or conventional treatment with placebo three times a day. After four months the silymarin group showed better blood sugar control and lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels than the placebo group.
As always, the researchers in that study said it was too small to allow them to recommend using silymarin for type 2 diabetes, and more and larger studies would be needed to confirm this result before it could be recommended.
The bottom line is if you are taking milk thistle extract for hepatitis C, it may not be helping you much with the
liver disease, but it might be helping you with your type 2 diabetes. Before taking it for either, however, talk to your doctor or Naturopath.
Written by Michael O”Leary.