The efficacy and effects of milk thistle

Everyone is familiar with milk thistle, but some people are less familiar with it. In fact, milk thistle is a relatively common Chinese medicinal material. So what exactly does milk thistle do?

[Other names] Milk thistle, milk thistle, mouse taro

[Source] Milk thistle Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn. [Carduus marianus L.], a plant of the genus Silybum in the Asteraceae family, is used as medicine with its achenes . Milk thistle blooms from early May to early July. It takes 25 to 30 days for a head inflorescence to mature from flowering to fruiting. When the bracts turn yellow and curl inward into a tube, and the pappus on the top opens slightly, it indicates that the seeds are ripe and should be harvested in time. Cut the infructescence with scissors.

【Nature and flavor】 Bitter, cool.

【Functions and indications】 Clears away heat and detoxifies, protects the liver, promotes bile secretion, protects the brain, and resists X-rays. It has a good therapeutic effect on liver and bile inflammations such as acute or chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, fatty liver, metabolic toxic liver damage, cholelithiasis, cholangitis and hepatocholangitis, and can rapidly improve the subjective symptoms and certain biochemical indexes of patients with liver disease, such as serum bilirubin, leukopenia and glomerular coefficient, prothrombin, alanine aminotransferase, etc.

[Usage and Dosage] Use silymarin (silymarin, milk thistle, silymarin) to treat hepatitis, take 70-140 mg orally each time, 3 times a day, for at least 5-6 weeks. After the symptoms improve, give a maintenance dose of 35-70 mg each time, 3 times a day. Sugar-coated pills (35 mg each) can also be used.

【Excerpt】 National Compendium of Chinese Herbal Medicines

The above is an introduction to the effects and functions of the traditional Chinese medicine milk thistle. Milk thistle is very helpful for human diseases, but it is worth noting that we should use symptomatic medication according to our personal physical condition and avoid indiscriminate consumption.