I have a friend who has a serious liver problem (hepatitus) and is going through traditional doctor/medical treatment. However, another friend has suggested he take Artichoke tablets that supposedly help restore liver functions.
Any chances of this helping?
Any chances of this hurting (doing more damage)?
If I had liver problems, the LAST thing I would want to do would be ingest large quantities of some oddball plant phenolic. The liver is the site were most things like that are detoxified, and without darn good evidence that it will help with whatever the particular problem actually is, you are only asking for trouble.
This site at least gives some references to studies of the effects of cynarin: http://www.tnp.com/encyclopedia/substanceprint/996/
Chlorogenic acid seems to be a bit more mystical in its reputed powers.
Here is a naturopathic web page that sells artichoke leaf pills.
This is an excerpt of their disclaimer.
The above highlights the dilemma of using naturopathic remedies. Personally, unless no applicable pharmaceutical existed, I wouldn’t take an unproven medication.
It’s certainly true that some herbal remedies have pharmacological effects. However, as choosybeggar points out, the FDA does not evaluate the claims of herb-peddlers the same way it evaluates drugs. Some herbal supplements have been tested and found to be effective (St. John’s Wort for the treatement of minor depression, for example), but some are found to be useless–but these tests don’t affect the way these herbs are marketed due to quirks in US drug laws which label herbal products as “dietary supplements” rather than as medicines. The manufacturer (or anyone, else for that matter) can make any claim about any herbal concoction that they want, as long as they include the FDA disclaimer.
In any event, your friend should consult with his doctor before taking herbal supplements, because some supplements can interact interact with prescription drugs, sometimes with serious side effects.
The common artichoke is used more as a digestive stimulant, as Squink’s link details.
An herb that does show promise as treatment for hepatitis, and other liver disorders, is a related plant; milk thistle (silybum marianum) It has a long traditional use in Europe for liver problems, and current scientific research is supporting that use.
From the same site as above: http://www.tnp.com/encyclopedia/substance/73/
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine is a good source of rational information on phytotherapy. Their page on hepatitis C, with details on milk thistle as treatment, can be found here.
They also have a nice info sheet for anyone considering alternative therapies.
It’s important to discuss any interest in alternative therapies with your MD. In this case, particularly so, as milk thistle, by it’s mechanism, can effect the absorption of other drugs used to treat hepatitis. There’s also the issue of finding a product of the appropriate strength. With milk thistle, it is a standardized extract of the seeds. There are good companies making herbal products; some who make them available only to physicians. If you take an herbal preparation, make sure it’s one of the better ones.
Well, first off with something like hepatitus I wouldn’t think about taking something without talking to my doctor first.
Having said that, I’ve used St. John’s Wart (*) in the past for mild depression and it did help me but for all I know it could have been placibo (I hope I spelled that right) effect.
*- And if that doesn’t work we’ll give you St. Micheal’s Rash!
Thank you all!
I sort of thought the idea of herbal meds are better as preventative than after the fact.
However, the reference to THISTLE was good, as the suggestion for Artichoke tablets came from a German friend, and I noticed that Thistle is common in Europe, widely used in German medicine and is also known as “Wild Artichoke”. So this might all be a case of a slight mis-translation, which of course confuses the matter even more.
The doctor had suggested he take a Mulit-Vitamin Suppliment and/or perhaps a folic acid suppliment, although she didn’t seem all that enthusiastic about either.
I might pick up a bottle of that Thistle, read it and have him run it by the good Doc to see what she has to say.
Thanks again! If anyone has any first hand experience using Artichoke or Thistle tablets, let me know.
DMark,
I would recommend that you find Ayesha here on the boards…she recently finished treatment for hepatitis C I believe. She also has a link in her sig line that leads to a good hepatitis site. She would be a good source to ask about treatment and possibly herbal remedies too. I am sure she is very versed in all of it.
This is a tricky question.
The answer to your specific question is no. Artichoke has never been shown to my knowledge to be of any proven benefit in hepatitis C and my opinion is it would be of no benefit, and possibly no harm depending what is in there. And I take an interest in this stuff, actively reading excellent books like The CMA Guide to Herbal Medicine.
The answer to the general question is tougher. Many herbs have been used for certain indications for hundreds of years and have obvious anecdotal success. Many herbs seem to be effective when studied in animal populations. Somewhat fewer pills have been shown to be of significant benefit in humans in adequate clinical trials, but interest in actually doing these trials is recent and likely underestimates the potential of herbs.
St. John’s Wort is good for depression. Herbs like Black Kohosh and Valerian have proven benefits. But the problem is that herbs that do benefit do so because they contain chemicals, as drugs do. Herbal preparations do not contain a standardized dose of the substance. In many cases the actual active substance may not be known. Herbal preperations may be of dubious purity or not actually contain the claimed substance. Drug-herb interactions are poorly understood. Different parts of the plant also play a role: whole gingko is neurotoxic, being more selective likely does help some neurodegenerative conditions.
So in short, not all herbal medicines are crocks. Many are probably useful, many more are anecdotally useful but with only small, statistically insignificant improvements in animals and or humans. But good research is, at long last, being done on some of these compounds and hopefully more rigorous processing standards will be applied to the good ones.