Milk Thistle Good For Liver and Brain

Milk thistle is one of those natural remedies that works and for a variety of things. For those of us with diabetes that have trouble with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) also named nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) this can be a real help. An active compound found naturally in milk thistle, silymarin, is shown to provide a significant degree of protection against NAFLD and abnormal brain aging.

Silymarin has shown that it can prevent and reverse liver damage. NAFLD is a chronic disease that is characterized by inflammation of the organ that releases a flurry of free radicals and liver enzymes. Left unchecked, NAFLD can progress to cirrhosis, carcinoma and death. NAFLD may affect up to 40 percent of adults in the westernized world.

The result of research published in the journal Hepatitis Monthly demonstrates the effectiveness of treatment with silymarin for the treatment of NAFLD. Researchers noted a significant decline in liver enzyme markers that indicate reversal of the disease, and no serious side effects were reported as a result of the natural treatment.

Silymarin has been found to protect the nerves and slow the brain aging process. Being one of the few compounds that is able to cross the blood-brain barrier, it has the ability to affect the neural function and chemical neurotransmitters.

Information from the journal Neurochemistry International shows that the nutrient is able to protect delicate glial cells in the brain against free radical damage that occurs from a low grade bacterial infection common in overweight and obese people.

Silymarin has demonstrated that it inhibits plaque formation and works to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. It works to clear protein amyloid plaques that form and prevent electrical and chemical signaling between neurons. Silymarin helps the brain to naturally clear amyloid plaque before it becomes tangled and restricts normal cellular communication.

Read about it here in John Phillip's blog. Also read what David Mendosa has to say about it and diabetes here. Until I read and then reread these two blogs, I realized how I had glossed over this when I wrote about it earlier, so I will spare you that.