Milk thistle and liver disease
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Insufficient evidence in literature review precludes recommendation of herbal for acute and chronic liver disease, Bradly Jacobs, MD, et al., Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, UCSF, conclude. With mortality or biochemical markers as outcomes, researchers discerned no significant difference between milk thistle and placebo. Fourteen trials were selected from 13 databases and interviews with manufacturers and experts, comprising research dating from January 1966 through July 1999. The ingredient, however, is safe and well tolerated, say the researchers, who looked at 18 AERs. Larger clinical trials should be conducted to further study efficacy, Jacobs et al. propose