Milk Thistle Liver Guard

Seeds of the milk thistle, Silybum marianum — a spined, purple-flowered weed of waste ground and roadside verges across the Mediterranean — pressed and standardized to silymarin, the cluster of flavonolignans concentrated in the seed coat. Each capsule holds an extract reduced at a ratio of 30:1, standardized to 80 percent silymarin, so the dose stays consistent from batch to batch rather than drifting with the season's harvest. The plant has traveled under many names for two thousand years: Pliny wrote of it, medieval monks grew it in cloister gardens, and folk tradition across Europe reached for it after a night of excess. Its Latin epithet, marianum, ties it to a legend of the Virgin Mary's milk falling on the leaves and marbling them white. Long before silymarin had a name, herbalists had already settled on the seed as the part worth keeping. One capsule with the largest meal of the day, when the liver has the most work ahead of it. The extract is partly fat-soluble, and a meal with some substance helps it along. Milk thistle is traditionally used to support normal liver function during its ordinary work of filtering and renewal. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease and is not a substitute for medical advice, especially for anyone with an existing liver condition.