Does it Work? - Milk Thistle?

Hiya,

Just wondering if anyone has taken or is taking Milk Thistle? I've read that it's good for liver function and a properly functioning liver is essential for metabolism (read: weight loss). Any opinions before I try?
Thanks!
Kim

There is some evidence that Milk Thistle has a positive effect on liver function in people with liver damage- please see this article from the Mayo Clinic:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/silymarin/NS_patient-milkthistle

However, there have been no conclusive studies that indicate that people without liver damage will benefit from milk thistle, nor any studies that I can find that show that repairing liver damage will increase weight loss by itself.

I've never noticed it. Where do you get it?

You can get milk thistle from your local healthfood store. It is good for flush toxins from your liver. Some herbalist belive that in order speed up your metabalism your liver has to be in order. I personally use it for those benefits but thats up to you. :)

Umm... no personal experience using it myself. I feel almost silly mentioning this :o, but I do have experience with its veterinary use. My vet has my older dog on it (in compound with SamE which is also reported to be good for the liver). Her tests show a key liver enzyme (I'm assuming the doggy version of ALT) to be elevating. It has definately improved her energy level :hyper:, but she has actually gained weight on it (which is a good thing for her). The way it was described to me, her liver is now able to process her food and less goes to, um, well, waste.

OK, sorry, I know that this is a people forum and not an animal one, and I hope I don't offend by relating my non-people related experience. I just thought you might want to know that (at least in a different species) it had the opposite effect of causing weight loss.

Another thought - Do you have threatened liver function? Like mandalinn82 said, I don't know that its supposed to do much if your liver is within normal ranges.

Hope this was helpful!

My husband has a liver that doesn't function properly, and he was taking milk thistle for a while. The damage to his liver was already pretty bad, so he is on other meds now to help him.

no worries Amarie - I am "mom" to 2 furry, four legged girls so doggie experiences are in no way offensive :)

Thanks for the input - The way my doc put it, my liver is "stressed and slightly fatty". Pretty good description of the rest of me too :lol: No serious damage (yet) but needs some TLC. He didn't seem to think it would hurt to give it a try. I seem to be on a really good (sensible for a change) diet and exercise program so I'm not really thinking it would be the magic bullet to weight loss but hoping it might help me repair some of the havoc I wreaked on my metabolism during my misspent youth with all those starvation and fad diets.