Native to the Mediterranean, Milk Thistle is a popular plant in the herbal world but can be a nightmare for gardeners, especially in the southern part of the United States where Milk Thistle grows unchecked if not prevented. Milk Thistle is native to Europe, North America, and other parts of the world.
This beautiful but tasty plant can be an annual or biennial. This member Asteraceae family, the botanical name for Milk Thistle now Silybum marianum although at first he was regarded as Carduus marianuma term still used in homeopathy.
Milk Thistle has been used for over 2,000 years as a remedy for liver problems. It has also been used as food for a long time. All parts of the plant are edible. If the thorns are cut from the leaves, the leaves can be eaten as lettuce, which is slightly bitter and still edible during the growing season. It can also be cooked like cabbage. The flowering tops can be eaten like artichokes, cut from the stem before the flower blooms, bursting and stripping the leaves and
flower petals to eat the sweet centers of each. The seeds are often ground and sprinkled on food, or roasted and used as a coffee substitute. They can also suppress their fat. The roots can also be eaten raw or roasted or boiled.
In medicine, the seeds are used.
If you have some seeds available, chew a few to learn about the power of Milk Thistle. As you chew, notice how the flavors develop. They might surprise you! How does the seed make your mouth feel, does it warm or cool your mouth when you chew it? Does your moth seem dry or wet? Most people describe Milk Thistle as sweet, bitter, cooling and hydrating.
Nutritionally, Milk Thistle contains calcium, chloride, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and vitamins B9 (folate), C, and E .
Medicinally, the seeds are used although all parts of the plant contain Silymarin, a group of flavonoids (silibinin, silidianin, and silicristin) that give Milk Thistle its medicinal properties. Silymarin is concentrated in the inner seed coats, requiring the seeds to be digested for the medicinal properties to take effect. The seeds are ground well just before use so that they are not edible. Whole seeds can be stored for years in a cool, dark place like a refrigerator. Milk Thistle contains other flavonoids such as taxifolin, quercetin, and kaempferol. Additionally, Milk Thistle contains amines including agmatine, histamine, and tyramine; essential oils, fixed oils including linoleic and oleic acid; mucilage, sterols (especially beta sitosterol), bitter principles.
Just what can we use Milk Thistle seeds for?
Historically, it has been used as an antidepressant, antineoplastic, antioxidant, appetite stimulant, astringent, bitter tonic, cholagogue, demulcent, diaphoretic, digestive, diuretic, emmenagogue, galactagogue, hepaprotective, stimulant, stomachic, and tonic.
Milk Thistle has a liver connection. Since Milk Thistle takes a long time in every aspect of the liver, as an antidepressant, it works by restoring the liver to health. When the liver is full of toxins, it cannot function properly and can lead to depression, chronic fatigue and illness. By restoring the liver and cleansing it, the symptoms will disappear. Those who suffer from depression may find that Milk Thistle provides relief in this way.
Along with toning the digestive system, Milk Thistle works to remove bile from the gallbladder, calling its cholagogue action. This action is associated with helping the liver.
As most bitters do, Milk Thistle stimulates the digestive system. Bitterness starts at the taste buds of the tongue, which moves the saliva to flow. This sends a message to our stomachs that food is on its way and digestion should be active. In this way, the bitterness of Milk Thistle helps as an appetite stimulant. As a gastroenterologist, he also massages the stomach to help improve its function and increase appetite.
Although he works well in all parts of the digestive system, most of his work comes from the liver. Milk Thistle is hepatoprotective which means it protects the liver. What can the courage protect us from? Toxic substances such as environmental toxins (such as working or living near industrial pollution, radiation, wastewater, hydrocarbon fumes or other toxins being released into the environment), alcohol, and other toxins.
Those suffering from hepatitis, cirrhosis, and other liver diseases have found Milk Thistle to be a beneficial part of their daily regimen. Germany and other countries have approved Milk Thistle for the supportive treatment of chronic inflammatory liver disease. Those with liver disease will receive Milk Thistle to improve lipid balance. Milk Thistle not only helps those with liver disease, but also promotes liver tissue regeneration in those recovering from alcoholism and liver disease.
Diabetics will find adding Milk Thistle to their daily routine beneficial in reducing insulin resistance.
Or Blessed Thistle (Cnicus benedictus), often recommended to help increase milk flow in nursing mothers, Milk Thistle is also a great galactagogue.
As an antioxidant, Milk Thistle has been proven effective in fighting skin cancer. The main component of silymarin is silibinin, which has been found to protect against UVB damage while killing cells damaged by UVA. Research has shown that Milk Thistle is useful for children who are using chemotherapy for the treatment of leukemia to protect their livers from toxic effects. The case also showed that Milk Thistle reduced liver tumors. Although we have not yet seen the FDA recommend Milk Thistle as a treatment or helper when dealing with leukemia, breast, lung, colon, bladder, prostate, kidney, liver and skin cancer, Australian research has shown that those suffering from these types of cancer. and other types of cancer treated with chemotherapy may find it beneficial to take Milk Thistle to help protect their liver from the effects of treatment and to have an antioplastic effect.
Milk Thistle is a specific remedy for mushroom poisoning from Amanita verna, A. phalloides and other related mushrooms as well but should be given in small continuous doses. Anyone suspected of eating poisonous mushrooms should still go to the emergency room, but drinking Milk Thistle while doing so may save their life.
Milk Thistle grows easily in the garden and if you don’t harvest the seeds, you will have a continuous patch that grows for years to come, becoming more invasive over the years if not properly harvested each year.
Do you want to teach your children all about this amazing plant? You can get the ebook here.
It is also part of the Herb Club, where you can find more than an hour of video lessons, live video calls for parents and children, a forum for parents and children, and an expanded curriculum for elementary school – high school in Milk Thistle and many more. herbs. Join Herb Club today!
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