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.
