The liver protectant pills that are advertised to protect our livers while on anabolic steroids or PH's are the epitome of a snake oil sale.
People keep suggesting on this board, and other forums, that liver pills be taken to ensure safety during a cycle. I am NOT an expert on steroids, how they work or any of the stuff like that, but I a premed student and I talked to my dad, who has been a psychiatrist for over 30 years.
The doc looked at my liver protectant bottle and explained to me that there is nothing available today that can actually coat the liver from harsh toxins.
I asked my dad if it was possible that doctors would say this because they are against the use of steroids without a prescription, and try to discourage use anyway possible. To this he responded.
"The medical community would have a bias to anything that would protect the liver. We prescribe medications everyday that are extremly heptatoxic. I think if something were available that actually worked, that a medical journal would write about it."
My dad went on to explain the theory of these so called liver protectants, and how they could not work. He than pointed to my bottle and read off this line from it: "These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or PREVENT ANY DISEASE."
"Which is it," my dad replied. "They say this protects the liver, but than say here that it does not prevent any disease."
My dad went on to say that best case scenario these pills will do nothing. He was not convinced of this however.
"It is possible that these pills do affect the liver. However there has never been a study of them of any size. It is possible that these pills do affect the liver, but in a negative way. No one knows, because they are not studied."
Sigh, as a pre-med student, you're probably learning something about the scientific method. Sadly, what you've done here is commit a basic logic flaw. You've asserted the "appeal to authority" error. Instead of saying "my dad says they're worthless and that no study has been done upon them," you might have taken a few minutes out of your life to see IF any studies had been done upon them. Doing a quick pubmed search using just ONE search term (milk thistle) turned up 185 articles from medical journals.
1: Curr Med Chem. 2006;13(9):1055-74. Related Articles, Links
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Silymarin as a new hepatoprotective agent in experimental cholestasis: new possibilities for an ancient medication.
Crocenzi FA, Roma MG.
Instituto de Fisiologia Experimental (IFISE), Facultad de Ciencias Bioquimicas y Farmaceuticas (CONICET--U.N.R.), S2002LRL, Rosario, Argentina.
Silymarin is a purified extract from milk thistle (Silybum marianun (L.) Gaertn), composed of a mixture of four isomeric flavonolignans: silibinin (its main, active component), isosilibinin, silydianin and silychristin. This extract has been empirically used as a remedy for almost 2000 years, and remains being used as a medicine for many types of acute and chronic liver diseases. Despite its routinely clinical use as hepatoprotectant, the mechanisms underlying its beneficial effects remain largely unknown.
This review addresses in detail a number of recent studies showing a novel feature of silymarin as a hepatoprotective drug, namely: its anticholestatic properties in experimental models of hepatocellular cholestasis with clinical correlate. For this purpose, this review will cover the following aspects: 1. The chemistry of silymarin, including chemical composition and properties. 2. The current clinical applications of silymarin as a hepatoprotective agent, including the mechanisms by which silymarin is thought to exert its hepatoprotective properties, when known. 3. The physiological events involved in bile formation, and the mechanisms of hepatocellular cholestasis, focusing on cellular targets and mechanisms of action of drugs used to reproduce experimentally cholestatic diseases of clinical interest, in particular estrogens and monohydroxylated bile salts, where anticholestatic properties of silymarin have been tested so far. 4. The recent findings describing the impact of silymarin on normal bile secretion and its novel, anticholestatic properties in experimental models of cholestasis, with particular emphasis on the cellular/molecular mechanisms involved, including modulation of bile salt synthesis, biotransformation/depuration of cholestatic compounds, changes in transporter expression/activity, and evocation of signaling pathways.
PMID: 16611084 [PubMed - in process]
1: Dig Dis. 2005;23(3-4):275-84. Related Articles, Links
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Treatment of alcoholic liver disease.
Bergheim I, McClain CJ, Arteel GE.
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Louisville Health Sciences Center, Louisville, KY 40292, USA.
Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. For example, the Veterans Administration Cooperative Studies reported that patients with cirrhosis and superimposed alcoholic hepatitis had a 4-year mortality of >60% (worse than many common cancers such as breast and prostate). The cornerstone for therapy for ALD is lifestyle modification, including drinking cessation and treatment of decompensation, if appropriate. Nutrition intervention has been shown to play a positive role on both an in-patient and out-patient basis. Corticosteroids are effective in selected patients with alcoholic hepatitis, and treatment with pentoxifylline appears to be a promising anti-inflammatory therapy. Recent studies have indicated anti-TNFalpha therapy, at least for alcoholic hepatitis.
Some complementary and alternative medicinal agents, such as milk thistle and S-adenosylmethionine, may be effective in alcoholic cirrhosis. Treatment of the complications of ALD can improve the quality of life and, in some cases, decrease short-term mortality. Copyright 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel.
PMID: 16508292 [PubMed - in process]
1: Phytother Res. 2006 Feb;20(2):115-9. Related Articles, Links
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An in vitro study of the protective effect of the flavonoid silydianin against reactive oxygen species.
Zielinska-Przyjemska M, Wiktorowicz K.
Department of Pharmaceutical Biochemistry, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Grunwaldzka 6, 60-780 Poznan, Poland.
[email protected]
The inhibitory effect of silydianin, an active constituent of Silybium marianum, on the in vitro production and release of oxidative products has been examined. Polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) play a primary role in the initiation and propagation of inflammatory responses. Their apoptosis is a major mechanism associated with the resolution of inflammatory reactions. Neutrophils were assessed for caspase-3 activity, the rst step in the execution phase of apoptosis. When cells were cultured with 100 microM silydianin for 24 h, caspase-3 was activated. Induction of apoptosis by silydianin was accompanied by a decrease in luminol-enhanced chemiluminescence as well as superoxide radical (O2*-) release in freshly isolated cells and lipid peroxidation in mouse spleen microsomes. No significant effect of silydianin on PMN hydrogen peroxide production evaluated by a flow cytometric dichlorofluorescin oxidation assay was found. Such results indicate a possible antiinflammatory activity for silydianin, which regulates caspase-3 activation, affects cell membranes and acts as a free radical scavenger. Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
PMID: 16444663 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]