Milk Thistle

Milk thistle is one of the most researched herbs for protecting liver health. Its active ingredient, silymarin, is concentrated into standardized extracts, usually as capsules, teas, or liquid tinctures.

You can take milk thistle long-term or as a periodic 1-3 month cleanse, depending on your goals.

Studies show that milk thistle helps support liver detoxification and repair from acute liver injury.

It may support a fatty liver, bile flow, and the clearance/repair following liver exposure to toxins, chemicals, drugs, and alcohol.

It also helps reduce advanced glycation end products – sticky residues from eating too much sugar that attach to cells and contribute to aging of the skin and body tissues. By protecting from sugar damage – milk thistle is regarded to promote brain and skin health too.

Supplementation with milk thistle and its extract silymarin have been associated with boosts in the body’s most important antioxidant systems such as glutathione and superoxide dismutase.

For lactating women, milk thistle may promote healthy milk production.

For men, milk thistle is known to promote prostate health.

Is Milk Thistle High in Oxalates?

Milk thistle does contain natural oxalates which can be an issue for a subset of individuals with oxalate sensitivity.

While the level of oxalates in a refined supplement may be relatively low, if you follow a low-oxalate diet or have had calcium oxalate kidney stones, talk with your practitioner before starting it.

If you need to avoid oxalates, MegaSporeBiotic is an alternative for liver support. In a study in rats, it supported liver health to the same level as silymarin (milk thistle extract). This is because the gut and its microbes act as a primary filter of toxins before the liver gets involved.

When the gut is off and the balance of bacteria is poor, the gut not only loses some of its detoxification capacity; it also starts adding toxins to the system. That’s a double negative on liver health. Milk thistle can help support the liver while you heal the gut.