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Silybum marianum, often known as St Mary’s thistle or milk thistle, is a spiky little herbal medicine with a beautiful pink flower. Its legend describes Mother Mary spilling her breastmilk over the leaves, giving it the characteristic white markings. Today, milk thistle is widely used to protect and restore the liver, including as our liver support product, Sylimarol. So how does it work, and could it be used to prevent other illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease?

How Does Milk Thistle Work?

Milk thistle, including as its extract, silymarin, protects the liver in several ways. One of them is through its antioxidant effects. Many toxins cause damage through oxidative stress, and alcohol is no exception. This effect includes protection against fat oxidation, which is particularly important as the cell membranes are mostly made of fatty acids. Milk thistle also stimulates the production of our own antioxidants, including the “master” antioxidant, glutathione. The antioxidants our bodies generate are much stronger than those we consume in food, such as vitamins C and E. 

Another way that milk thistle works is through reducing inflammation. Liver diseases, such as fatty liver disease and cirrhosis, are largely driven by chronic inflammation triggered by oxidative stress. Milk thistle seems to help by turning down activity of nuclear factor kappa-B (NFkB), the “master switch” of many downstream inflammatory pathways. 

What if you already have a liver disease? In this case, milk thistle could help to prevent liver fibrosis, the buildup of scar tissue in the liver that eventually leads to organ failure. Lab research shows that the herb’s silymarin content could reduce the excessive collagen production that drives scar formation. In human clinical trials, people with cirrhosis have higher survival rates when they take silymarin, at a four-year survival rate of 58% instead of 39% in one study. In another analysis, the yearly death rate was 4.9% among those taking silymarin, compared to 9.3% of the placebo groups. 

How Well Can Milk Thistle Protect The Liver? 

You may be interested in milk thistle as a method of protecting your liver against everyday toxin exposures. However, much of the research tests milk thistle against even more serious toxic threats. One of these is the treatment of tuberculosis, which involves harsh antibiotics. Up to one-third of people treated for tuberculosis develop drug-induced liver injury (DILI), a problem that can be anything from barely noticeable to liver failure. Thankfully, a review of clinical studies found that silymarin, the major active phytochemical in milk thistle, can cut the risk of liver damage by 67%. Milk thistle’s antioxidant properties are one mechanism behind this ability, as liver cells are protected from the oxidative stress caused by toxins. 

In a lab study, milk thistle was also found to protect the liver against cisplatin, a drug used in chemotherapy for cancer. Treatment two hours after cisplatin exposure provided only partial protection, but using it two hours before cisplatin was much more effective. What this means for you is that prevention is best. Don’t wait until after a toxic exposure to take milk thistle, or don’t wait until you have an illness linked to environmental toxins. If you’re concerned about your liver health, any time is the best time to start taking it. 

Improving Liver Detoxification 

Liver detoxification has two phases, one that makes toxins more water-soluble, and a second that binds them to another substance so they can be excreted. A deficiency in either phase leads to accumulation of toxins, with a slow Phase II detoxification being of particular concern. 

A lab study on liver cells found that silymarin was able to increase levels of one Phase II enzyme, glutathione-S-transferase, while slowing the speed of Phase I detoxification. Here, cells were exposed to NDEA, a toxin associated with liver cancer, which sped up Phase I and slowed down Phase II detoxification. We find NDEA in cooked meat, tobacco products, and some cosmetics, agricultural chemicals and pharmaceutical drugs as a byproduct. It would be nice to ban all man-made sources of NDEA, but for now we must protect ourselves from them with the right herbal remedies. 

Could Milk Thistle Protect Against Alzheimer’s Disease? 

Alzheimer’s disease understandably strikes fear into the hearts of millions. The accumulation of toxic amyloid plaques slowly takes away everything that makes affected patients who they are, and there is still no complete cure. 

The removal of amyloid proteins before they can clump together into plaque has enjoyed more interest in recent years. There is even a treatment now that can stabilise mild Alzheimer’s disease, and slow moderate disease, by removing amyloid-beta from the bloodstream. However, we cannot all make it to the only current treatment centre in Barcelona, and we don’t want to wait for the disease to develop. So what if there was a herbal supplement that could do something similar, before symptoms even start? 

We may be able to use milk thistle extract as a preventive option. Our liver is able to remove amyloid proteins from the blood, but this process can be compromised. People with liver cirrhosis have higher blood levels of amyloid compared to those with normal liver function, and if they also have hepatitis, their levels are even higher. As written above, milk thistle can help protect the liver and improve its function even after a diagnosis of cirrhosis. 

But is there any direct evidence yet that milk thistle extract could prevent Alzheimer’s disease? Lab research shows that when mice with the disease were given silymarin, their brain levels of amyloid proteins fell and their neurological function was better than control mice. This is thought to be from a combination of milk thistle’s antioxidant effects on the brain, and its ability to protect the liver. 

Overall, we give milk thistle and its extract, silymarin, our tick of approval. Its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, detoxification-stimulating and liver-protective properties make it a helpful friend in our toxic world. Even better, milk thistle may assist in preventing Alzheimer’s disease through supporting the liver, as amyloid proteins can be removed before they join together to form plaques. If you are interested in trying out Sylimarol for yourself, click here to buy a box.