Milk Thistle (Silymarin)，水飞蓟又名奶蓟草和大蓟
水飞蓟的提取物水飞蓟素，具有改善肝功能、增强肝细胞膜等作用。
水飞蓟全草可用于肿疡及丹毒。
水飞蓟果实及提取物用于肝脏病、脾脏病胆结石、黄疸和慢性咳嗽。
水飞蓟种子榨油，含氮、磷、钾较高，具有较高的营养价值，可防止动脉硬化
水飞蓟的化学成分，全草含有黄酮类及延胡索酸；种子含水飞蓟宾（silybin）、异水飞蓟宾、脱氢水飞蓟宾、水飞蓟宁（silydianin）、水飞蓟亭（silychristin）、水飞蓟宾聚合物及肉桂酸、肉豆蔻酸、棕榈烯酸、花生酸等。其中水飞蓟宾的生物活性最高，约占水飞蓟素的50%-70%。
中医特点：性寒，味苦
主要功效如下：
1.保护肝脏；
2.提高肝功能；
3.促肝细胞再生；
4.抗动脉粥样硬化
产品性状浅棕黄色粉末 产品规格水飞蓟素（silymarin）80% UV
适应症
保护肝脏、增强肝脏解毒功能和减轻酒精及化学毒物对肝脏的损害。
用法用量
成年人每次1粒，每日1-2次，建议随餐食用。
注意事项
首次打开如发现包装有损坏，请勿食用。对豚草属或雏菊类植物过敏者。请避免食用自然之宝奶蓟提取物软胶囊。如有不适，请停止食用并咨询专业人士。孕期、哺乳期女性或疾病患者食用前请咨询医师。
Milk Thistle For Liver Detoxification
Milk thistle has been known in Europe and other Mediterranean countries since ancient times. Theophrastus mentioned about milk thistle around 4th century, B.C. Dioscorides wrote about the medicinal value of milk thistle, and Pliny the Elder wrote on the improvement of bile flow by milk thistle, calling it "Silybum" around the 1st century, A.D. Nicholas Culpeper, an English herbalist mentioned in 1650 that milk thistle is effective for removing liver obstructions.
Von Haller documented the use of milk thistle for liver ailments in 1744. Milk thistle has been mentioned as a folkloric remedy for asthma, cancer, catarrh, chest pains, dropsy, fever, hepatitis, rabies, jaundice, vaginal discharge, malaria, plague, spasms, and spleen problems. Milk thistle has been under scientific and clinical investigation since turn of the last century, mainly in Germany.
In the 1960s, German scientists identified a group of active ingredients from milk thistle, mainly from the seeds, and named them collectively as "silymarin". The preparation of milk thistle fruits and seeds were approved by German Commission E as a highly safe and effective herb for liver health.
Usage
German Commission E approved the internal use of crude milk thistle fruit preparations for dyspeptic complaints. Standardized extracts (usually ranging in silymarin concentration from 70 to 80%) are approved for toxic liver damage and as a supportive treatment for chronic inflammatory liver disease and hepatic cirrhosis.
Silymarin is known to protect the liver by altering and strengthening the structure of outer cell membranes of hepatocytes (liver cells), preventing toxins from entering the liver cells, and by stimulating the regenerative ability of the liver and the formation of new hepatocytes through the activation of an enzyme nucleolar polymerase A, which leads to the increase in ribosomal protein synthesis and cell division.
Silymarin, as an anti-oxidant, may also reduce damages to liver cells caused by chronic use of certain prescription drugs. The silybin component of sillymarin has been related to cholesterol-lowering effects. Through the capability to increase bile solubility, sylimarin may also help prevent or alleviate gallstones.
Dose: 12-15 grams per day of powdered seed is recommended for making infusions or other preparations to be taken orally. For standardized extract, 200-400 mg of silymarine per day is recommended.
Side Effects: No side effects are known for crude preparation, as milk thistle is a food, and a relative of artichoke. For standardized extract with high concentration of sylimarine, a mild laxative effect has been observed occasionally.
Chemistry and Pharmacology Of Milk Thistle
A rather complete chemical composition list of milk thistle can be found in Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases. Milk thisle seeds contain 1.5-3% flavonolignans, collectively called silymarin; 20-30% fixed oils, of which approximately 60% is linoleic acid, approximately 30% is oleic acid, and approximately 9% is palmitic acid; 25-30% protein; 0.038% tocopherol; 0.63% sterols, including choleterol, campeterol, stigmasterol, and sitosterol; and some mucilage. [Herbal Medicine - Expanded Commission E monographs, by Mark Blumenthal, Alicia Goldberg, and Josef Brinckmann, first edition, 2000]. Silymarin's constituents are isosilybinin, silybinin, silychristin, and silydianin, of which silybinin accounts for approximately 50% of silymarin. [Dr. Duke's Essential Herbs, by James A Duke, 1999].
There have been very few clinical tests on milk thistle or any herb for women at pregnancy.
Thus, although an extremely safe herb and food, milk thistle is recommended against women who are pregnant or lactating largely due to the lack of data and our ignorance.
Milk Thistle Protects Liver Function
As a mild food and herb, milk thistle's anecdotes and folklores may not be as fancy and splendid as those of ginseng or ginkgo. Unlike the latter two herbs, milk tistle is strictly non-Asian, and has been used in the regions surrounding the Mediterranean. Medicinal efficacies of milk thistle fruits and seeds for protecting the liver and helping with various ailments associated with liver function have been known and exploited for more than two thousand years, even before the preparation methods for standardized extracts were available.
In addition to looking into various herbs to help detoxify your liver, don't forget the Liver Flush which you can perform at home.