SILYBUM MARIANUM:

A Summary

For over 2,000 years Europeans have used milk thistle seeds as an herbal treatment for liver disorders. The plant has been grown both as an ornamental and a vegetable, Virtually all part of the plants have been used as food with no reports of toxicity. Over the past 40 years, intensive chemical, pharmacological and clinical research has confirmed mechanism of action and therapeutic value of silymarin in a wide range of human liver disease including toxic metabolic liver damage and supportive treatment of chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis. Silymarin, derived from the seeds of the plant, has shown both protective and restorative effects in liver disease. Other components of the seed have proven useful in supportive therapy for death cap mushroom poisoning. The plant is a primary example of the usefulness of using historical efficacy as a staring point for the development of modern applications for the medical plants.