Milk thistle extracts have a number of effects that could help prevent the development or progression of diabetes. Benefits of milk thistle include:
Study Information | Outcome |
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23 month open, controlled, clinical trial (66) 60 patients with alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver and diabetes (66) 600 mg milk thistle's silymarin compounds a day or standard therapy alone (66) |
Those who took silymarin along with their diabetes medications showed better outcomes than those who took the drugs by themselves: |
45 day randomized, triple blind, placebo controlled clinical trial (186) 40 patients with type 2 diabetes controlled by conventional diabetes drugs (186) 140 mg 3 times a day of dried milk thistle extract (186) |
Milk thistle extracts work better than diabetes drugs alone at reducing hs-CRP levels. Silymarin also significantly increases antioxidant levels. (186) |
3 month randomized, double blind, placebo controlled 2-arm parallel clinical trial (68) 60 patients with type-2 diabetes with diabetic nephropathy progressing despite drug treatment (68) 140 mg milk thistle's silymarin compounds 3 times a day or placebo (68) |
Study results suggest silymarin could help slow the progression of kidney disease caused by diabetes. (68) |
4 month randomized, double blind, placebo controlled clinical trial (187) 51 patients with type-2 diabetes (187) 200 mg milk thistle's silymarin compounds 3 times a day, along with conventional diabetes drugs (metformin and glibenclamide) (187) |
Milk thistle compounds significantly improved markers for type 2 diabetes over placebo and over baseline measurements in patients. Those who took silymarin also showed some weight loss and reduced diastolic blood pressure, but these effects were not significant. (187) |