Identifying Milk Thistle

• Like most thistles, milk thistle flowers have purple petals extending from a bulb-shaped base. Milk thistles, however, have distinctive white veins on shiny deep green leaves and produce a milky liquid when damaged.
  
  

Liver Enzymes

• Milk thistleStacheliger Geselle image by Elvira Gr??bel from Fotolia.com
  
  Over-consumption of alcohol can raise liver enzymes, causing liver damage. Studies have shown that a compound called silymarin found in milk thistle can help lower these enzymes, sometimes within days. As a result, patients whose livers have alcohol-related liver damage can often regenerate their livers by taking milk thistle supplements.
  
  

Other Liver Problems

• In addition to lowering liver enzymes, the silymarin in milk thistle is also used to treat viral hepatitis, and it is used as an antidote for animals and humans poisoned by the "death cap" mushroom.
  
  

Cancer Treatment

• Milk thistle may prevent liver damage from chemotherapy.suero image by FRAN from Fotolia.com
  
  In addition to treating liver disease, recent studies by the Columbia University Medical Center indicate that silymarin may also limit liver inflammation and damage caused by chemotherapy treatment for cancer.