Herbarium: Milk Thistle – a useful thistle that treats liver problems.

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is a one to two-year-old, robust, and decorative thistle. The stem is densely leafy at the base and sparsely leafy towards the top, reaching a height of over a meter. The leaves are alternate, embracing, stiff, with white marble-like patterns on the veins, oblong-elliptical in shape, pinnate, and spiny. From the ovate, spiny-toothed base, a purple flower emerges. The fruit consists of glossy, brown-spotted achenes, approximately 7 x 4 mm in size, with white fluff, the bristles being rough and fused at the base. It blooms from July to September.

It is a cultivated medicinal plant, originally from the Mediterranean region, but also grows wild in nature. In warmer areas, it occasionally becomes naturalized.

The drug consists of the fruits, sometimes incorrectly referred to as seeds. Just before ripening, the entire, fluffy heads are cut and stored in well-ventilated, dry places. Traditionally, the leaves have also been widely used, harvested in spring in May and June, between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM. The root is rarely used, and is dug up in the spring.

The main active ingredient is silymarin, which is a collective name for flavolignan compounds and essential oils. It contains primarily the flavonoids silybin, silydianin, and silycristin, as well as the biogenic amines tyramine and histamine, some amino acids, sugars, and a significant amount of oil with a high proportion of unsaturated fatty acids.

The drug has a protective effect on the liver parenchyma, influences the production and distribution of bile, and is therefore used primarily for the treatment and recovery of liver and gallbladder diseases, and thus, the entire metabolism.

It has practically no significant side effects or contraindications. The only way to degrade the drug is through possible rancidity.

We use milk thistle in cases where we suspect that a patient's problems may be related to chronic poisoning, or when we are treating the consequences of such poisoning. In general, we use it wherever there is a reduced function of the liver.

It can also be applied in cases of gynecological and pulmonary problems, or jaundice.

This article was published with the kind permission of the Sféra magazine.

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