Over time, complete restoration of the liver is possible, with regeneration at
four times the normal rate. Many psychopharmacologic drugs and agents are
detoxified by the liver. The cumulative effect of drug use on the liver can be
devastating. Thus Milk Thistle should be taken by people who want or need to
take such drugs. It has been shown to prevent liver damage caused by such
drugs.
This all suggest that taking the herb regularly will provide protection to
either the sick or healthy liver during the course of daily life. By
stabilizing cell membranes, by encouraging the regeneration of cells destroyed
during the normal detoxification process, Milk Thistle provides the liver and
the body with the ability to cope with the deleterious effects of daily
encounters with air- water- and food-borne toxins. Using Milk Thistle daily,
and combining it with other hepatics, offers an effective and safe approach to
liver protection.
Liquorice & Glycyrrhizin
The root of licorice, Liquorice L. and Chinese licorice, G.
uralensis, is an important medicine around the world. Glycyrrhizin is one
of the main components of licorice root. During the course of such clinical
use, glycyrrhizin preparations were found to be effective for chronic hepatitis
and have been widely used for chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis in Japan.
- Glycyrrhizin inhibits liver cell injury but does not reverse reduced protein
synthesis. It is effective against carbon tetrachloride, benzene hexachloride,
PCB and GalN.
- Antibody production is enhanced by glycyrrhizin. When mononuclear cells from
human peripheral blood were stimulated with pokeweed mitogen in the presence of
glycyrrhizin, polyclonal antibody production was significantly enhanced.
Glycyrrhizin may facilitate antibody formation through the production of
interleukin I.
- glycyrrhizin inhibits the growth of several DNA and RNA viruses, inactivating
Herpes simplex virus particles irreversibly.
- its effect against chronic hepatitis was demonstrated in a double-blind test
with 133 patients. Elevated serum transaminase and y-GTP levels were reduced.
- it appears to be effective on the pretreatment of post-transfusion hepatitis.
In one trial comparing glycyrrhizin and an inactive placebo in 336 patients, a
significant reduction of the incidence of non-B hepatitis after transfusion was
observed in the treated group. Because a remarkable reduction of the incidence
of post-transfusion hepatitis was observed from 2 weeks to 6 weeks after
transfusion, suggesting that the incidence of short-incubation post-transfusion
hepatitis might be suppressed by using glycyrrhizin.
- it helps prevent post-transfusion hepatitis. When i.v. administration was
continued for about 2 weeks, starting on the day of transfusion, the incidence
of hepatitis was reduced from 17.6 to 12.8%. From these and other results, it
was concluded that the use of this phytochemical is effective for the
prevention of post-transfusion hepatitis.