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westernherbalism:

Milk Thistle
Silybum marianum

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From Mountain Rose Herbs..

Milk Thistle Seed and Powder Profile
Also known as
Silybum marianum, Holy Thistle, Variegated Thistle, Lady’s Thistle.

Introduction
Milk thistle is a member of the sunflower family native to a narrow area of the Mediterranean, but grown for centuries throughout Europe and and now a common weed in California. Milk thistle was probably brought to North America as a coffee substitute, but its shiny black seeds covered with feathery tufts have a far longer history in herbal medicine. The edible thistles were given the name silybum by Dioscorides, a Greek physician who served in the Roman Army over 1,900 years ago. The thistle with white mottling on its leaves became known as the “milk” thistle. This herb served as a therapy for conditions we would now recognize as ascites, congestive heart failure, various kidney diseases, and hepatitis. In Catholic Germany, its usefulness was said to be second only to calling on Mother Mary, and the white mottling on the leaf said to be the touch of the Virgin Mary’s milk, hence the species name “marianum.” In the twentieth century, German physicians and pharmacologists found that milk thistle could treat certain mushroom poisoning, fatty liver due to alcoholism, cirrhosis, and hepatitis B and C. Much of the research involved a proprietary formula developed by the German natural products maker Madaus, but the authoritative Complete German Commission E Monographs also recognized the usefulness of the whole herb.

Constituents
Silymarin (silibinin, silydianin, and silychristin), vitamin E (tocopherols), and about 90% fatty acids.

Parts Used
The threshed, dried seed.

Typical Preparations
Whole seeds or seed powder, encapsulated or used to make an infusion. The most convenient form has been either an alcohol or glycerin extract.

Summary
There is a tendency among herbalists to think of milk thistle seed and silymarin as synonymous. For instance, The Expanded German Commission E Monographs notes the historical uses of the whole herb for treating “Congestion of the liver, spleen, and kidneys” and in the very next paragraph states, “Milk thistle is an example of a preparation that is required to be in the standardized, concentrated form in order to fully convey the desired, in this case, hepatoprotectant, effects.” This isn’t necessarily so. There’s no doubt that silymarin extract delivers more silymarin than the same amount of milk thistle. This is because only about 10% of the silymarin in the seed can be absorbed by the digestive tract, and the seed is only up to 3% silymarin. However, since the customary dose of the whole herb is 12 to 15 grams (up to 3% silymarin) and the customary daily dose of silymarin extract amounts to 200 to 400 milligrams of silymarin, you actually get an effective dose of silymarin by taking whole milk thistle seed three times a day. There are other reasons to use the milk thistle seed (whole or ground) rather than silymarin extract. Even when an herb is used to treat a serious health condition, the whole herb often has a more balanced effect. The milk thistle extract silymarin, for instance, has proven usefulness in treating liver disease. The drawback to using silymarin is that, if the doctor prescribes other drugs, such as steroids, silymarin can interfere with the liver’s ability to detoxify them. Milk thistle seed has the same healing effect on the liver without interfering with the organ’s ability to detoxify drugs or environmental chemicals, and a side benefit of normalizing blood lipids as the liver heals.

Precautions
Like silymarin extract, milk thistle seed can cause mild diarrhea by stimulating the release of bile. This effect is most notable if there is a high-fat diet.

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biomedicalephemera:

Five Important Plants in Pharmaceuticals (in no particular order):

1. Papaver somniferum, the Opium Poppy: Gives us opiates such as morphine, thebaine, codeine, and heroin. All opiates are powerful analgesics and most derivatives of the poppy also have a strong sedative effect. The smooth muscle in the body is also relaxed by these substances.

2. Digitalis purpurea, Purple Foxglove: Gives us digoxin, one of the most important cardiac glycocides that exist. Causes the heart to beat more slowly and effectively at the correct dosages.

3. Filipendula ulmaria, Meadowsweet: Gives us salicin, and salicylic acid. While salicylic acid in the form of white willow bark powder had been used for centuries as an analgesic, the salacin of meadowsweet caused much less gastric upset, and was mixed with acetyl chloride to create aspirin - the antipyretic, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory that is still the most common pain relief medication in the majority of the world.

4. Atropa belladonna, Deadly Nightshade: Gives us atropine, a powerful smooth-muscle antispasmodic and pupil dilator. In fact, the name itself (belladonna) comes from the fact that women used to use the plant to increase their pupil size at several points in history, as was considered attractive. Atropine was also used as an anesthetic during surgery in the Middle Ages.

5. Physostigma venenosum, the Calabar Bean: A very toxic plant with a rich history of poisonings and trial-by-fire incidents, the calabar bean also provides us with physostigmine. Physostigmine is a powerful cholinergic agent, and can be used to counteract poisonings by anticholinergics (such as deadly nightshade, mandrake, henbane, and datura plants). Conversely, those plants provide the anticholinergic agent used to treat calabar bean poisoning.

Every single one of these plants is easily fatal in the incorrect dosages, but by discovering the ethnobotanic history of plants (traditional cures), and isolating the active ingredients in plants identified, effective and relatively safe medications can be produced. Over 85% of our modern medications have been derived from plant compounds to some degree, and ethnobotanists have played a huge role in that.

Image: Atropa belladonna, Deadly Nightshade - Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. Dr. Otto Willhelm Thome, 1885.