Herbs For Alcoholism Articles & Resources

As if all this doesn't keep your liver busy enough, it also supplies the immune system with antibodies and produces blood-clotting factors and globin, a constituent of hemoglobin, the pigment in blood that carries oxygen to all the body's cells.

One problem with liver impairment is that it's easy to overlook. After all, how many people think their liver may be involved when they experience headaches, fatigue, irritability, aches and pains, indigestion, chronic constipation, premenstrual syndrome or hormonal imbalances? Even many skin conditions may be affected by the liver; ask any herbalist what she uses to treat eczema, psoriasis or rashes, and she'll likely mention some herbs that strengthen the liver.

While mainstream medicine acknowledges that the liver is involved with most of the aforementioned conditions (except for headaches and skin conditions, in which the connection is more debatable), most of its practitioners are unlikely to even consider treating the liver in the absence of a specific liver disease. Practitioners of natural medicine, on the other hand, will generally address the liver in their first line of treatment for a wide variety of ailments.

The liver has an amazing ability to restore itself, and herbs can play an important role in keeping the liver healthy. Most of the liver-loving herbs that follow have been studied in relation to disease, such as cirrhosis or hepatitis. Although these herbs can have remarkable effects on serious liver conditions, most are very gentle, and even a basically healthy person can benefit from using them to promote proper digestion and enhance blood detoxification.

Follow dosage directions given on the herb labels. As a general guideline, I,d suggest that healthy people take liver herbs for a few days each month. You can take the herbs that follow either alone or in combination. Many combinations specifically for the liver are available from natural food stores.

I would also recommend taking liver herbs for a few days any time your life includes factors that stress the liver, for example, eating a lot of rich foods, drinking more than a moderate amount of alcohol or taking any pharmaceutical medications, especially sleeping pills. If you have a chronic liver disease, you can take any of the following herbs until the problem clears up. They all are nontoxic and can be taken indefinitely with no ill effects; however, I've found that taking a break for three or four days a month seems to enhance the herbs, effectiveness for the continual user.

A WOUNDED LIVER'S BEST FRIEND

The most impressive liver herb is the seed of milk thistle (Silybum marianum), a prickly weed found throughout much of the world. Hundreds of studies have been published on milk thistle seeds, demonstrating that this herb is effective at repairing damage from alcohol; drugs, including illicit, prescription and over-the-counter; chronic hepatitis; and exposure to toxins.

A flavonoid complex called silymarin is responsible for milk thistle seeds, action and has proven to be one of the most potent liver-protecting substances known. (Flavonoids are compounds that include many common pigments.) For example, in the 1970s, one researcher gave silymarin to 60 people who had developed severe liver poisoning from accidentally eating wild Amanita mushrooms. The death rate from ingesting these mushrooms is typically between 30 percent and 40 percent, yet every single subject survived.

Every year dozens of people in the United States accidentally eat poisonous mushrooms. Ironically, while I was writing this article, a family in California made news when they tossed some Amanita mushrooms into their spaghetti sauce. The mother and two sons were hospitalized with liver damage for several days, and the 1 3-year-old daughter required a liver transplant.

Clinical studies also indicate that milk thistle seeds can reverse much of the liver damage that's due to alcohol abuse. Twenty percent of alcoholics develop advanced liver damage, called cirrhosis. Although milk thistle seeds don't seem to reverse cirrhosis, they have been shown to significantly slow advancement of the disease, which causes about 30,000 . deaths a year.

Similarly, milk thistle seeds can minimize liver damage from chronic hepatitis, which is caused most commonly by an autoimmune reaction or a virus; if its progression is not halted, chronic hepatitis can in turn lead to cirrhosis. German physicians have been so impressed by milk thistle seeds, ability to fight these conditions that they routinely give injections of the herb to their liver patients.

Do not try to treat alcoholism, hepatitis or toxic chemical exposure on your own; these are serious medical conditions that require professional treatment. If you want to try milk thistle seeds for these conditions, do so only in consultation with your health-care practitioner, preferably one trained in the use of botanicals.

For more preventive use, you can easily incorporate milk thistle seeds into your diet. Buy them in bulk or empty them out of capsules. You can grind whole seeds in a coffee grinder and then sprinkle them on food. Even though the taste of the seeds is slightly bitter, I find them especially good sprinkled on cooked grains.

KITCHEN REMEDIES

Milk Thistle isn't the only member of the thistle family to invite to dinner. If you like artichokes (Cynara scolymus), you're in luck. Although you may not think of artichoke leaves as an herb, they've been used in Europe since at least the 16th century to treat a variety of liver complaints, including jaundice.

Research from Germany, France and Italy established in the 1930s that artichoke leaves do indeed protect the liver from toxin-related damage, enhance its regenerative powers and help eliminate excess bile, which can clog the liver and the gallbladder. In one study conducted over a period of two years in the late 1950s, for example, researchers gave extract of artichoke leaves to dozens of Polish workers who had been exposed to fumes from carbon disulfide, a potent liver toxin. The workers did not experience any of the liver damage that the chemical typically causes.

Artichoke leaves are available in a variety of herbal preparations for the liver, but all you have to do is eat the vegetable in its whole form. Although the part you eat--mainly the heart--is less potent than the leaves, just one artichoke still contains a medicinal dose. One warning though: Artichokes are often sprayed with high doses of pesticides--the last thing you want for your liver! Be sure to buy organically grown artichokes.

Don't leave the kitchen yet. You also can eat your way to a healthy liver with rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) and garlic (Allium sativum). Both are rich in flavonoids that act as antioxidants and improve liver function; additionally, garlic appears to prevent lead from accumulating in the body.

Other antioxidant liver lovers include turmeric (Curcuma lonqqa), the spice that makes curry powder bright yellow, and grape leaves (Vitis vinifera), found in the traditional Greek and Middle Eastern dish called dolma. Don't worry about using certain amounts when you cook with these herbs; just use them liberally. If you prefer taking supplements, garlic is available in several forms in both drug stores and natural foods stores. Turmeric can be found in some of the herbal-combination preparations for the liver that are sold in natural foods stores.

GEMS IN THE WEED PATCH

You may have a couple of excellent liver herbs growing unwanted in your yard: dandelion (Taraxacum officinalis) and burdock (Arctium lappa). Both Eastern and Western herbalists have long used them--often together--to treat problems associated with liver dysfunction, especially hormonal imbalances, skin diseases, fatigue and chronic constipation.

Dandelion and burdock belong to a class of herbs called bitters. Herbal bitters stimulate the production of digestive fluids, including bile. (Other bitters include gentian and Oregon grape root, often found in herbal Lever preparations.) Several European drugs are based on dandelion; studies show that it can successfully treat a variety of liver disorders, including jaundice, cirrhosis, hepatitis, liver congestion, gallstones and chronic constipation. Unfortunately, so far the only research on burdock has been conducted on animals, but historical use has established it as a useful liver herb.

You'll commonly find dandelion and burdock sold in bulk or already packaged in tea bags; they make a good-tasting tea when combined with licorice. Of course, you also can harvest your own dandelion or burdock, providing they have not been sprayed with weed-killer and you're sure you've positively identified them. Use the roots. Young fresh dandelion leaves also are good liver medicine; they're used as a pot herb and eaten in salads in Greece and Italy. Although not quite as potent a medicine as their raw form, roasted dandelion roots are a popular coffee substitute sold in grocery stores.

Besides using herbs, paying attention to other lifestyle factors can benefit your liver. Obviously, one of the best things you can do is to avoid pollutants. That means eating pesticide-free food and avoiding potentially toxic household cleaners, such as disinfectants and furniture polish.

It's also wise to go easy on alcohol. Look to your diet as well; one that's high in fat is hard on the liver. Some of the worst dietary culprits that increase levels of free radicals and damage not only liver cells but cells throughout the body are fried foods, such as corn and potato chips, and hydrogenated oils, commonly found in margarine and baked goads. You'll find that if you take care of your liver, it'll take care of you.

Kathi Keville is the director of the American Herb Association and author of several herb books, including Aromatherapy: The Complete Guide to the Healing Art (Crossing Press, 1995), co-authored with Mindy Green, and Herbs for Health and Healing (Rodale Press, 1996).

References

American Journal of Chinese Medicine 19(2) :121 -9,1991.

Arneim-Forsch 11(3):2&8, 1961.

Hayashi Yakuri 79(7)923.

Gastroenerol Japan 24(6):715-9,1989.

Pharmazie 5;122-127, 1950. also see 13; .

Proceeds of the International Bioflavonoid Symposium, Munich, 1981.

Report from the Symposium on Drugs Affecting Lipid Metabolism, Milan. Italy, 1960.