Milk Thistle cuts liver toxicity from all Chemotherapy

An extract from the milk thistle plant significantly reduced some signs of liver inflammation in children receiving chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia and showed favorable trends in other measures, researchers said.

After 56 days of oral treatment with milk thistle in capsule form, children in a placebo-controlled trial showed significantly lower levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and trends toward lower alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and bilirubin, according to Kara M. Kelly, MD, of Columbia University, and colleagues.

The study "provides preliminary evidence that milk thistle may be a safe, effective, supportive-care agent," the researchers concluded in an online report in Cancer.

"Milk thistle needs to be studied further, to see how effective it is for a longer course of treatment, and whether it works well in reducing liver inflammation in other types of cancers and with other types of chemotherapy," Kelly said in a press release issued by the American Cancer Society, publisher of Cancer. "However, our results are promising as there are no substitute medications for treating liver toxicity."

Among the herb's purported benefits is limiting liver toxicity from cancer chemotherapy, but this had not previously been tested in a placebo-controlled trial.

The study was funded by the American Institute for Cancer Research, the Tamarind Foundation, and the National Cancer Institute.

Steve - milk thistle/silymarin has been a long-time supplemental staple of ours for any kind liver support. This is great to see and hopefully can help many people with the devastating effects of chemotherapy.