Although it is not much talked about, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease has emerged as the leading cause of chronic liver disease in the world. Nature offers a very powerful way to help treat it.
When you have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), fats, including cholesterol and triglycerides, collect in liver tissue. As many as 30% of adults around the world suffer from it, but most of them probably don’t even know it. In about 10% of cases, NAFLD will advance to the more serious nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and that can lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer and liver failure.
Silymarin is the active component of perhaps the most powerful liver protecting herb of them all: milk thistle. In people with NAFLD, silymarin lowers liver enzymes more effectively than drugs (Hepat Mon 2012;12(8):e6099). A Meta-analysis of 8 controlled studies confirms silymarin’s ability to significantly reduce levels of the liver enzymes AST and ALT (Medicine 2017;96(49):e9061).
A new meta-analysis has strengthened the evidence by including many more studies. This meta-analysis included 26 controlled studies of 2,375 people with NAFLD.
The results showed that silymarin improves the whole range of fats that accumulate in the liver. It significantly lowers total cholesterol, the harmful LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides, while significantly elevating the beneficial HDL-cholesterol. Fatty liver index and fatty liver score were both lowered significantly on silymarin. There was a significantly higher prevalence of fat build up in the control group than in the silymarin group.
The results were just as encouraging for liver enzymes. Silymarin significantly lowered both ALT and AST.
There was also a small, but significant, reduction in body mass index with silymarin.
This massive analysis of the research on silymarin suggests that the active ingredient of the power liver protecting herb, milk thistle, can offer significant help to people with NAFLD.
Ann Hepatol. March-Apr 2024;29(2):101174.