purchased some milk thistle yesterday...

[treetop]

[Screwball]

Is milk thistle chuggable?

[whiskeyprick]

The ex swears by it, but I don't listen to her anymore.

[Lush City]

Thanks, but I'm sticking with burdock root powder and fennel seed.

Wise choice. They are natural diuretics.

[treetop]

[treetop]

the end piece of an ham is called the "milk thistle" or, in latin, "il cilantro". if you pierce it with cloves, it turns into coriander which can be rendered down with horse or donkey (never mule) hooves to make a standard issue bar of soap. you just read it on the internet so you know it's true.

[Cliffie S. Bockerson]

http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/milk-thistle

All of this remains unproven and milk thistle remains unlicensed by both the FDA and the NHS drug approval service. However, its manufacturers manage to get it onto the market by exploiting the fact that "Health Foods" remain a, largely, unregulated area. It is also worth noting the side effects of Milk Thistle and, indeed, any other drug (licensed and, especially, unlicensed)
As Dr Phil Hammond (the MD not the politician) said, "Over the years an intensive study has been made of all the folk and herbal remedies...[that have been in use for millennia]...and all the useful parts have been processed and made into... [licensed]...medicines. What remains is, basically, a nice cup of [herbal] tea."

I don't think the article makes any claims about the miraculous nature--or otherwise--of milk thistle; in fact, I fail to see an attempt to prove anything in it at all. It's a summary stating that some studies seem to have found it a credible therapy; some haven't. It neither encourages nor discourages its use. Perhaps the stuff is utterly worthless, but based on its use in the past and differing results in current studies, I don't understand why anyone would want to dismiss it out of hand as a potential treatment. To pass final judgment on the stuff as a "placebo" seems...well, I don't see how that makes great sense.

[Savage]

sad but true. I have to give up my bourbon for the next few weeks, so I can pass my health finals. damn. too bad. three months comes around so soon.

[Mr. Viking]

sad but true. I have to give up my bourbon for the next few weeks, so I can pass my health finals. damn. too bad. three months comes around so soon.

booooo

[Palinka (RIP)]

Here's a song that might help...

[Frankennietzsche]

Herbalism is akin to witchery!
Putting your faith in these devil's weeds is next to suckling at the teet of Olde Scratch, himselfe.

[Bender!]

I take it every day, Have done so for years. I take it in the morning with a multi-vitamin. Is it helping? I dunno. It's obviously not hurting. I drink like a fish, and I'm in good health for a 42 year old.

[Palinka (RIP)]

...It's obviously not hurting...

Yeah but I could say the same about tea.

[Mr. Viking]

...It's obviously not hurting...

Yeah but I could say the same about tea.

unless you drink it while it's still too hot, of course.

There is a very high rate of Esophageal cancer in Northern Iran where as part of the culture people drink freshly boiled tea

[Palinka (RIP)]

...There is a very high rate of Esophageal cancer in Northern Iran where as part of the culture people drink freshly boiled tea

And chew qat and betel nut, not to mention the hookah habit (and the working oil fields, which aren't conducive to health either).