Native to the Mediterranean, Milk Thistle is a popular herb in the herbal world but can be an invasive nightmare for farmers, especially in the southern part of the United States where Milk Thistle grows uninhibited if left unchecked. Milk Thistle has naturalized in Europe, North America, and other parts of the world.
This beautiful but prickly plant can be an annual or biennial. A member of the Asteraceae family, Milk Thistle’s botanical name is now Silybum marianum though she was originally classified as Carduus marianum, a name that is still used in homeopathy.
Milk Thistle has been used for over 2,000 years as medicine for liver problems. She has also been used as food for just as long. All parts of the plant are edible. If the thorns are cut off the leaves, the leaves can be eaten like a lettuce, being mildly bitter and remaining edible throughout the growing season. They can also be cooked like cabbage. The flowering tops can be eaten just like artichokes, cutting them from the stalk before the flower is in bloom, steaming and peeling away the leaves and
flower petals to eat the succulent centers of each. The seeds are often ground and sprinkled on foods, or roasted and used as a coffee substitute. They can also be pressed for their oil. Roots can also be eaten raw or steamed or boiled.
Medicinally, the seeds are used.
If you have some seeds available, chew on a few to learn about Milk Thistle’s energetics. As you are chewing, notice what flavors come up. They might surprise you! How does the seed make your mouth feel, is it warming or cooling your mouth as you chew them? Does your moth seem to be drying or moistening? Most people describe Milk Thistle energetically as sweet, bitter, cooling, and moistening.
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 though all parts of the plant contain Silymarin, a group of flavonoids (silibinin, silidianin, and silicristin) that gives Milk Thistle his medicinal power. Silymarin is most heavily concentrated in the inner seed coats, requiring the seeds to be ground for the medicinal constituents to be effective. Seeds are best ground right before using so they do not go rancid. Whole seeds can be stored for years in a cool, dark location such as the freezer. Milk Thistle also contains other flavonoids such as taxifolin, quercetin, and kaempferol. Additionally, Milk Thistle has amines including agmatine, histamine, and tyramine; essential oil, fixed oil including linoleic and oleic acid; mucilage, sterols (mainly beta sitosterol), bitter principles.
Just what can we use Milk Thistle seeds for?
Historically, she has been used as an antidepressant, antineoplastic, antioxidant, appetite stimulant, astringent, bitter tonic, cholagogue, demulcent, diaphoretic, digestive, diuretic, emmenagogue, galactagogue, hepaprotective, regenerative, stomachic, and tonic.
Milk Thistle has an affinity for the liver. Given Milk Thistle’s long standing for everything liver, as an antidepressant, she 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 purifying it, the symptoms will disappear. Those who are suffering from depression may find Milk Thistle to be relieving in this way.
Along with toning digestive system, Milk Thistle works to remove bile from the gall bladder, calling on her cholagogue action. This action is complimentary to assisting the liver.
As most bitters do, Milk Thistle stimulates the digestive system. Bitters start at the tongue’s taste buds, stimulating the saliva to flow. This sends a message to our stomachs that food is on the way and digestion should get to work. In this manner, Milk Thistle’s bitterness helps as an appetite stimulant. As a stomachic, she also tones the stomach to help improve its function and increase the appetite.
While she works well for all parts of the digestive system, most of her work is pivotal from the liver. Milk Thistle is hepaprotective meaning she protects the liver. What can she protect the liver from? Toxic substances such as environmental toxicity (such as working or living near industrial pollution, radiation, bad water, hydrocarbon fumes or other toxins that are put into the environment), alcoholism, and other toxins.
Those suffering from hepatitis, cirrhosis, and other liver diseases have found Milk Thistle to be a beneficial part of their daily treatment. Germany and other countries have approved Milk Thistle for supportive treatment of chronic inflammatory liver disorders. Those with liver disease will find Milk Thistle to improve lipid balance as well. Not only does Milk Thistle help those with liver disease, but she also stimulates the regeneration of liver tissue for those who are recovering from alcoholism and liver disease.
Diabetics will find adding Milk Thistle to their daily regimen beneficial for decreasing insulin resistance.
Though Blessed Thistle (Cnicus benedictus), is often recommended for helping to increase the milk flow for nursing mothers, Milk Thistle is also a great galactagogue.
As an antioxidant, Milk Thistle has been proven to be effective against skin cancer. The main constituent of silymarin is silibinin, which has been found to protect against UVB damage while killing cells damaged by UVA. Studies have shown Milk Thistle to be helpful for children taking chemotherapy for leukemia treatments to protect their livers from the toxic effects. A Case has also shown Milk Thistle to shrink liver tumors. Though we have yet to see the FDA recommending Milk Thistle as a treatment or assistant 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 undergoing chemotherapy may find it beneficial to take Milk Thistle to help protect their liver from the effects of treatment as well as having an antineoplastic effect.
Milk Thistle is a specific antidote for mushroom poisoning from the Amanita verna, A. phalloides and other related mushrooms and but must be given in continual small doses. Anyone suspected of consuming poisonous mushrooms should still get to the emergency room but taking Milk Thistle may very well save their life while they do so.
Milk Thistle is easy to grow in the garden and if you do not harvest the seeds, you will have a continuous patch growing for years to come, becoming more and more invasive over the years if not properly harvested each year.
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