Dena Schmidt – The compound silibinin, a flavonoid in milk thistle, has shown extremely promising activity against human liver cancer, according to University of California, Irvine researchers.
Both silibinin and silymarin are highly bioactive milk thistle compounds that are already linked with offering protection for the liver against damage from alcohol and drug use. Now silibinin is showing promise in protecting against a number of cancer types, including liver cancer.
Liver cancer cases have tripled in the U.S. since 1980
For the study, human cells were treated with the milk thistle extract silibinin at different doses. Its substantial anticancer effects were linked with several specific processes. These included suppressing the cell cycle of cancer cells, reduction of the cellular proliferation of cancer and increasing apoptosis (cancer cell death).