LiverSelect
Milk thistle contains several chemicals with possible medical effects. Traditionally, it has been used to treat gallbladder disease and conditions of the liver, such as chirrosis. Most current research focuses on a mixture of milk thistle’s chemicals, collectively called silymarin, which may have specific protective effects on cells in the liver. Although a recent analysis of the available study results studies did not find significant value, multiple human, animal, and laboratory studies have shown differing degrees of effectiveness for silymarin. It may help to protect the liver from damage caused by alcohol, chemicals, drugs, diseases, and poisonous plants. It is used to treat both acute conditions (such as poisoning) and long-term diseases (such as hepatitis C). Silymarin and other chemicals in milk thistle are believed to protect liver cells in different ways:
Anti-inflammatory effects of silymarin help keep liver cells from swelling after being injured. Silymarin seems to encourage the liver to grow new cells, while discouraging the formation of inactive fibrous tissue. By changing the outside layer of liver cells, silymarin actually may keep certain harmful chemicals from getting into liver cells. More generally, milk thistle may also cause the immune system to be more active, increasing overall resistance to infection. Silymarin may be anti-inflammatory. Additionally, silymarin has antioxidant properties. Oxidation is a natural process necessary to convert foods into components the body can use, but it also produces by-products known as oxygen free radicals, which may damage body cells. Oxygen free radicals also result from exposure to toxins such as cigarette smoke. Antioxidants neutralize oxygen free radicals, helping to prevent or lessen damage that may lead to Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, Parkinson’s disease, and many other conditions. All three possible effects may give milk thistle anticancer properties.
Therefore, silymarin has also been tested in multiple laboratory studies involving various types of human cancer cells. In general, chemicals in silymarin seem to interrupt cancer cell division, keep cancer cells from spreading, and shorten the time that cancer cells live. They may also stop or limit the formation of new blood vessels that supply tumors. Because silymarin attaches to places in cells where the sex hormones androgen and estrogen usually stick, most early research with milk thistle centered on its possible disruption of hormone-dependent cancers, such as breast cancer and prostate cancer. Due to possible estrogen-like effects of milk thistle, however, certain types of breast cancer tumors actually increased in number, seriousness, or both when milk thistle was given to female animals with existing breast tumors. More recent studies are testing milk thistle for treating other cancers, such as leukemia. In addition, some chemicals from milk thistle may increase the effectiveness of current anticancer drugs or reduce the toxicity that some drugs cause to non-cancerous cells. Some of these potential anticancer effects are being studied in human trials, but none is confirmed, yet.
Oral milk thistle and chemicals derived from it are being studied for a number of additional possible effects. For example, in animal studies and one small study of humans, milk thistle produced small reductions in cholesterol levels. A growing amount of information from laboratory, animal, and human studies suggests that milk thistle may also help to lower blood sugar levels. Apparently, it works by making the body use insulin better; not by affecting the body’s production of insulin. Results of separate laboratory studies show that milk thistle may help to protect the heart muscle from damage caused by certain drugs. However, these potential uses have not been well studied in controlled human trials.
The application of one silymarin component, silibinin, to the skin of laboratory animals has helped to protect the animals against the development of skin cancer; either before or immediately after exposure to damaging radiation. Silibinin may even help to restore damaged skin somewhat by mending DNA that has been harmed by ultraviolet (UV) rays. In a separate animal study, both topical and oral silymarin helped lessen the systemic (bodywide) effects of burns on the skin
The Ingredients in Liver Select have been found to perform liver protective properties (hepatoprotective) through a number of mechanisms: antioxidant activity, toxin blockade at the membrane level, enhanced protein synthesis, antifibrotic activity and possible immunomodulating effects (USADHHS). These compounds helped to increase bile flow and promote liver health in laboratory trials. Curcumin C3 Complex® a powerful antioxidant, has two modes of action. The "prevention mode" prevents the formation of free radicals. The second mechanism, known as the "intervention mode", neutralises the already formed free radicals. Curcumin C3 Complex® is therefore an effective "Bioprotectant" due to its dual activity of prevention and intervention effects in the liver.
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