The Science of Study

Milk thistle's path from a traditional healer to a modern medicine

            

            Humanity has, during the course of events, managed to improve medical approach to many diseases and prolonged the human life and even doubled it. And the famous start with medicinal plants advanced towards the synthetic chemistry and medicine, but lately medicinal plants have again been introduced as a remedy which is essential to people’s health. Among the many herbs, milk thistle has proven to have numerous uses and could simply be called a miracle when it comes to diseases and states which can be cured.

            This amazing field plant has found its use in modern medicine and is becoming more and more popular each day. In herbalism, it is used as a remedy for various liver diseases including jaundice, hepatitis and cirrhosis, then for gallbladder diseases and is generally known as a liver antitoxin. Its components have hepatoprotective, antioxidant and other effects which are making this plant gain its popularity again. 

            The extract of milk thistle has antifungal effects, and can be used as an antidepressant in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Other significant uses include lowering cholesterol levels which could be utilized in the treatment of obesity, then it could reduce insulin resistance in diabetes type 2, especially with people who have cirrhosis. Potential use could be found in cancer treatment, because certain studies have found that it is reducing the growth of malignant cells in cervical, prostate and breast cancers. Because of its hepatoprotective effects, clinical study has shown that in active hepatitis patients, milk thistle can have liver function improved.

            Another interesting fact about milk thistle is that, along with other plant extracts, can be used as a hangover cure. This means that the preparation of this plant can help organs rid of toxins after heavy drinking and that it can eliminate alcohol more quickly from a body. If the liver cells get damaged during the chronic use of alcohol, milk thistle can regenerate liver cells. Regenerated liver cells prevent further hepatic failure and later cirrhosis and hepatitis which might occur in the patients who have alcohol history.

            As an antitoxin plant, milk thistle is a good antioxidant. This meant that it removes dangerous oxygen radicals from your body, preventing future cancerous events. It is similar to antioxidants such are vitamin C, green tea and berry’s family. Its component silibinin is used against the poisoning by Amanita phalloides, a mushroom which is very poisonous. It is unbelievable how a plant can have so many functions in medicine, and milk thistle is just a good example how nature is willing to cure us.

            Maybe we, the people, are ready to turn towards the nature again and accept the remedies which our ancestors have used for centuries. Milk thistle is an astonishing herb with so many possibilities and it can be used to treat various diseases, even the deadly ones. Medicine has, by accepting milk thistle and similar herbs, not made a step back, but a step forward by embracing its roots, comprehending them and applying them to the modern society of people.

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Caffeine messes up your circadian rhythm, study suggests

It may not be an uncommon thing to drink a cup of coffee just after the dinner or right before the sleep. And some people may or may not experience the changes in their sleep after that late coffee. Well, the recent study suggests that caffeine, coffee’s main active substance, does more to your circadian rhythm than you can ever imagine.

A late cup of coffee can mess your sleep in more than a single way: Caffeine doesn’t only keep you awake, but it also messes up the internal body clock. This basically means that caffeine changes the way your body decides to sleep or wake up.

Kenneth P. Wright Jr., a co-author of recently published study and director of Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory at the University of Colorado, says that caffeine “affects our physiology in a way we hadn’t really considered in the past”. Such discovery may affect night owls who’d like to get up earlier, or those who experience a jet lag after a long and tiresome travel between the time zones.

In the published study, five healthy individuals have spent a night in a laboratory, where the researchers have monitored their melatonin levels, a hormone responsible for our circadian rhythm. Melatonin is a natural indicator of circadian rhythm, where high levels suggest that body needs to rest and go to sleep.

Three hours before the sleep, the participants would take either a caffeine pill which contained an amount of caffeine worth of two espresso shorts, or a placebo pill. The participants who had taken a caffeine pill previously would take the placebo pill the night after, and vice versa.

The study has shown that the caffeine pill delays the release of melatonin for at least 40 minutes. This basically means that caffeine affects the body’s internal clock, pushing the biological night later.  It is widely known that caffeine releases the chemicals which promote arousal and wakefulness, but the recent study suggests that circadian rhythm is affected as well.

A delay of melatonin’s release could have a huge impact on a person’s body. For example, if an individual is exposed to a bright light just before the bedtime, such factor could delay the release of melatonin by 85 minutes. Further research of caffeine’s effects on circadian rhythm may be available anytime soon, as this study creates a good base for later examinations.

The study was published on Sept. 16, in journal Science Translational Medicine.

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Grape seed extract - the antioxidant intervention for our bodies

            Grape has found its use among many cultures, including ancient Greeks and Romans who used it mainly because of the wine. Deities have been imagined and gods were cheered just because the people thought that wine is a product given by gods. But, even though the fruit itself was widely used for centuries, its seed and seed extract has gained wide attention nowadays because science has discovered that grape seed extract bears more than a glass of wine can.

            In the production of wine and other grape products, grape seed extracts are taken as industrial derivatives. They consist of great and nutritional concentrations of flavonoids, linoleic acid, vitamin E and phenolic procyanidins. The special attention require flavonoids and phenolic procyanidins because these chemicals, known as polyphenolic compounds, have antioxidant activity. 

          Antioxidant activity represents the possibility of fighting against malignant oxygen radicals which are normally produced in our organism as a part of cell stress. If the radicals are not being taken care of, the body could develop cancer which could lead to a death of an organism. Scientists have discovered that grape seed extract is rich in antioxidants and that it could be used as a potential cure for various types of cancer.

            Possible health benefits of grape see extract is that may affect different heart diseases such are hypertension, cancer, platelet aggregation, inflammation and high levels of blood cholesterol. The most important polyphenol in the extract is called resveratrol and the studies have shown that has an effect on cancer cell growth, apoptosis and proliferation. Yet, grape seed extract has other uses in medicine or among people as an alternative remedy.

            It can cure wounds on the skin because it accelerates healing of injured skin, then it can affect oral sugar metabolism preventing certain oral bacteria from causing dental caries. The effect on bones is that grape seed extract enhances bone density and strength, it can also prevent ultraviolet damage of sunlight and besides that it has anti-viral effects, antibacterial properties and positive effect on live and blood flow. 

            One interesting thing is that grape seed extract is an aromatase inhibitor. This means that it suppresses the conversion of testosterone to estradiol which is important for development of breast cancer at women and men. It also prevents producing extra female hormones in men’s body which could have a huge effect on reproduction and fertility of males.

            This interesting extract is something on which the modern medicine is working right now. Many researches have shown that it has various positive effects. Such a simple fruit such is grape, mainly used for wine production, has a great potential to cure cancer and treat it like any other disease. This is something which humanity is looking forward to in next couple of decades. 

             Then maybe, cancer will not be a serious problem as it is nowadays. Once again, nature has shown us a right path to our health which we need to embrace to the fullest. Health is just a step away from us and it comes from the nature.