This summary contains the following key information: - Milk
thistle is a plant whose fruit and seeds have been used for more
than 2,000 years as a treatment for liver and biliary disorders.
- The active substance in milk thistle, silymarin, is a mixture
of flavonolignans, primarily consisting of four isomers:
silybin, isosilybin, silychristin (also known as silichristin),
and silydianin (also known as silidianin). In the biological
literature, silybin is referred to as silibinin. - Laboratory
studies demonstrate that silymarin functions as an antioxidant,
stabilizes cellular membranes, stimulates detoxification
pathways, stimulates regeneration of liver tissue, inhibits the
growth of certain cancer cell lines, exerts direct cytotoxic
activity toward certain cancer cell lines, and may increase the
efficacy of certain chemotherapy agents. - Human clinical trials
have investigated milk thistle or silymarin primarily in
individuals with hepatitis or cirrhosis. - Few adverse side
effects have been reported for mil