Milk Thistle For The Brain, Bones, & More

“Thistle Do Nicely”

Milk thistle is a popular supplement; it comes from the milk thistle plant (Silybum marianum), commonly just called thistles. There are other kinds of thistle too, but these are one of the most common.

So, what does it do?

Liver health

Milk thistle enjoys popular use to support liver health; the liver is a remarkably self-regenerative organ if given the chance, but sometimes it can use a helping hand.

See for example: How To Undo Liver Damage

As for milk thistle’s beneficence, it is very well established:

• Milk thistle in liver diseases: past, present, future
• Hepatoprotective effect of silymarin
• Silybum Marianum and Chronic Liver Disease: A Marriage of Many Years

Brain health

For this one the science is less well-established, as studies so far have been on non-human animals, or have been in vitro studies.

Nevertheless, the results so far are promising, and the mechanism of action seems to be a combination of reducing oxidative stress and neuroinflammation, as well as suppressing amyloid β-protein (Aβ) fibril formation, in other words, reducing amyloid plaques.

General overview: A Mini Review on the Chemistry and Neuroprotective Effects of Silymarin

All about the plaques, but these are non-human animal studies:

• Mouse model: Silymarin attenuated the amyloid β plaque burden and improved behavioral abnormalities in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model
• Rat model: Silymarin effect on amyloid-β plaque accumulation and gene expression of APP in an Alzheimer’s disease rat model

Against diabetes

Milk thistle improves insulin sensitivity, and reduces fasting blood sugar levels and HbA1c levels. The research so far is mostly in type 2 diabetes, however (at least, so far as we could find). For example:

Silymarin in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Studies we could find for T1D were very far from translatable to human usefulness, for example, “we poisoned these rats with streptozotocin then gave them megadoses of silymarin (10–15 times the dose usually recommended for humans) and found very small benefits to the lenses of their eyes” (source).

Against osteoporosis

In this case, milk thistle’s estrogenic effects may be of merit to those at risk of menopause-induced osteoporosis:

Antiosteoclastic activity of milk thistle extract after ovariectomy to suppress estrogen deficiency-induced osteoporosis

If you’d like a quick primer about such things as what antiosteoclastic activity is, here’s a quick recap:

Which Osteoporosis Medication, If Any, Is Right For You?

Is it safe?

It is “Generally Recognized As Safe”, and even when taken at high doses for long periods, side effects are very rare.

Contraindications include if you’re pregnant, nursing, or allergic.

Potential reasons for caution (but not necessarily contraindication) include if you’re diabetic (its blood-sugar lowering effects will decrease the risk of hyperglycemia while increasing the risk of hypoglycemia), or have a condition that could be exacerbated by its estrogenic effects—including if you are on HRT, because it’s an estrogen receptor agonist in some ways (for example those bone benefits we mentioned before) but an estrogen antagonist in others (for example, in the uterus, if you have one, or in nearby flat muscles, if you don’t).

As ever, speak with your doctor/pharmacist to be sure.

Want to try it?

We don’t sell it, but here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon

Enjoy!