Milk thistle extract shown to halt lung cancer progression in its tracks

Milk thistle extract shown to halt lung cancer progression in its tracks.

(NaturalNews) Lung cancer is a devastating disease with a traditionally poor survival rate of less than ten percent after five years from diagnosis. There are a number of well documented triggers that cause tissue damage that eventually results in DNA damage, allowing lung cancer cells to develop and spread. Researchers from the University of Colorado publishing in the journal Molecular Carcinogenesis found that treatment with silibinin, a major component of milk thistle, effectively treated wound development in lung cancer cells by halting the disease and preventing metastasis. Long known for its rejuvenating effects on the liver, milk thistle is now emerging as a viable therapy to help prevent and reverse the damage caused by years of cellular breakdown in lung tissue.

Although milk thistle use has been documented for nearly 2,000 years, very little solid science exists to validate the beneficial effects on human health. Cells communicate with one another through a complex series of signals to achieve an end result, normally the creation of a protein or the completion of an enzymatic reaction. When this chain is broken as a result of poor diet or lifestyle choices that affect metabolic homeostasis, diseases such as cancer are allowed to develop and manifest in tissues throughout the body.

Big Pharma frequently looks to break these chain reactions in an unnatural way; it halts metabolic processes in the body commonly with undesired or potentially deadly consequences. COX2 and iNOS are two enzymes that are involved in a chain of actions that elicit an inflammatory response to wounds and infectious processes. If you were to cut yourself, inflammation at the local site is a desired response that will aid healing. Unfortunately, systemic inflammation caused by excess body weight and poor dietary choices is a serious problem underlying many chronic diseases including lung cancer.

Both COX2 and iNOS aid tumor growth when they remain in circulation as a response to chronic inflammation. Two transcription factors known as STAT1 and STAT3 allow the blueprint of DNA to bind with proteins that continue the signal cascade, eventually leading to the production of harmful COX2 and iNOS. Researchers found that when the chain is broken, tumor growth is halted and metastatic growth stops. They found that a derivative of milk thistle called silibinin was able to inhibit the upstream signals that lead to the expression of COX2 and iNOS and help prevent lung cancer.

Lead study authors concluded: “What we showed is that STAT1 and STAT3 may be promising therapeutic targets in the treatment of lung cancer… and that naturally-derived products like silibinin may be as effective as today’s best treatments.” Milk thistle represents another natural compound that provides a powerful effect to prevent and treat chronic diseases. Alternative health experts recommend supplementing with 250 mg of a standardized milk thistle extract each day to fight the threat of lung cancer.

Sources for this article include:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/…
http://www.sciencedaily.com/release…
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_relea…
http://www.nutritionhorizon.com/new…

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/034339_milk_thistle_lung_cancer_prevention.html#ixzz1fwtzltnH

Milk thistle saves your liver and your life

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Milk thistle saves your liver and your life.

(NaturalNews) Over 1,000 new synthetic food agents have been approved for consumption in the United States in 2011, and the human liver is the body’s primary detoxifier, bearing the brunt of filtering these chemical agents out so cancer cells don’t develop and multiply. Milk thistle, also known as Silymarin, prevents the metastatic process, stopping the spread of cancer in its tracks.

A powerful antioxidant that protects against nerve damage and abnormal brain aging, milk thistle also fights off Atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.

Natural remedies represent the most intelligent and least expensive way to prevent and combat ailments and disease, and milk thistle offers these outstanding functions with zero side effects. It has been used for over 2,000 years to prevent and treat liver disease. Silymarin is actually the extract of the seed-like fruit of the milk thistle plant, which comes in capsules, liquids and teas, but since it doesn’t dissolve well in water, the most popular form is the standardized extract.

Currently, there are two ways to address America’s chronic care management system. The first way is to make sure you have enough health insurance coverage to pay for the ultra-expensive treatments offered by doctors prescribing pharmaceuticals and for surgeons, who charge an arm and a leg (no pun intended) for cutting organs out of your body when they fail.

The second way is to wait until you are sick and possibly dying, and then to scramble to find natural remedies for your ailments, hoping it’s not too late to save you from the massive over-indulgence of chemicals you failed to regulate along life’s path.

Fortunately, there is preventive care, which cuts off disease’s fuel and heads it off at the pass. This method requires consumers to read a few informative articles every week and to head to the local health food store to purchase the proper, effective vitamins, supplements, and yes, milk thistle.

The liver performs hundreds of critical metabolic functions, including filtering out drugs and alcohol. Research shows that antibiotics and pain relievers increase the liver’s stress and damage. In fact, Tylenol is the number one cause of acute liver failure in the United States.

Today, hormones and antibiotics pollute drinking water. In addition to the ones we take for sicknesses, millions of Americans, who eat meat, consume and then excrete more of these same chemicals because they are given to chickens, turkeys, cows, and pigs in order to prevent infection from over-breeding, unkempt quarters, and abnormal growth.

Since the FDA and the CDC have already allowed over 80,000 chemicals to be approved for consumption without testing and without labels to warn consumers, it’s a cold hard fact that at some point, everyone will consume toxic food agents that create acid in the body and foster disease. The battle must be fought on both ends – by consuming organic foods that most likely do not contain chemicals, and then by detoxifying the body on a regular basis using herbs and supplements.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.diagnose-me.com/treat/T1…

http://www.herbwisdom.com/herb-milk…

http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2011…

http://www.nysun.com/national/even-…

http://utopianist.com/2011/05/new-r…

http://livingdiseasefree.com/2011/0…

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/033800_milk_thistle_liver_function.html#ixzz1a6PMmypx

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Milk thistle provides a protective shield to the liver, heart and brain

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(NaturalNews) The liver is one of the most critical organs essential to human health. It serves more than 300 functions in the body to detoxify against chemical and environmental intrusions, and it promotes metabolic function as well. Silymarin is commonly known as milk thistle, and new science is emerging to validate the healing potential of this powerful plant. Publishing in the journal Hepatitis Monthly, researchers provide solid evidence that natural milk thistle extracts can halt and even reverse the effects of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), an affliction affecting as much as a third of the adult population. Supplementation with milk thistle will dramatically lower the risks associated with fatty liver disease, atherosclerosis and cognitive dysfunction.

NAFLD is a significant health concern that is growing at an unprecedented rate due to the obesity and diabetes epidemic currently gripping most western societies. The condition is caused in part by excess accumulation of fats (triglycerides) in the cellular matrix of the liver that results in suboptimal function of the organ. Left unchecked, the disease can result in cell injury and damage, in inflammation and ultimately in cirrhosis as the liver becomes less able to perform the multitude of tasks essential to life.

Researchers found that the plant extract has powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and becomes concentrated in hepatic tissue soon after ingestion. They found that silymarin promotes liver tissue regeneration by supporting multiple critical metabolic functions: these include lower oxidized LDL cholesterol levels, regulation of membrane permeability and stability and prevention of the deposition of collagen fibers, which lead to cirrhosis. In addition, milk thistle inhibits the absorption of many toxins, effectively preventing them from entering circulation through the bloodstream.

Silymarin is known to be a powerful cellular antioxidant with specific properties that can prevent excess oxidation of LDL cholesterol. Oxidized LDL cholesterol particles are sticky and become lodged in the delicate endothelial layer of coronary artery vessels where they combine with other blood-borne compounds to form plaque. Natural milk thistle extracts (570 mg per day) have proven effective to lower risk factors that promote arterial hardening.

Milk thistle has been used as a chemopreventive agent in the fight against certain cancer lines, most notably metastatic cancers of the prostate. Silymarin interferes with cancer growth and immortality, and it exhibits anti-inflammatory and anti-metastatic activity (prevents cancer spread). Extracts of milk thistle have also been used as an agent in the war against numerous malignancies including those of the liver, colon and skin.

Our body is continually under assault from a barrage of more than 70,000 chemicals and 900 drugs known to induce liver damage. Milk thistle supplementation provides an effective tool to protect and heal our primary filtration organ, the liver. Silymarin is also proving to be an important tool that can naturally lower cancer risk, while providing critical support for the heart and prostate.

Milk thistle provides a protective shield to the liver, heart and brain.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/033524_milk_thistle_liver_protection.html#ixzz1XMTo7Gcq