Liver Diseases

Through eating, breathing and even absorption through the skin, we all take in quite a smorgasbord of substances, ranging from life-sustaining foods to toxic chemicals. The liver's role is to break down and neutralize a wide array of potentially toxic chemicals, including such things as food additives, environmental pollutants, petroleum, paint and solvents. Even many natural substances, such as hormones, need to be broken down. Toxic levels of the hormones estrogen and testosterone circulate through the blood and increase the risk of hormonally related cancers if they are not transformed by the liver. The liver also converts protein into usable amino acids. Nutrients such as fats, carbohydrates and vitamins A, D, E, K and B₁₂ are metabolized by your liver. Several vitamins are stored in your liver. And as if your liver is not busy enough, it also manufactures antibodies for the immune system, produces agents that allow blood to clot when you get cut, and even helps control blood sugar levels.

Liver problems are easy to shrug off at first because the typical symptoms tend to be the last things you would think of being related to your liver. Headaches, irritability, fatigue, aches and pains, indigestion, bloating, constipation, hormonal imbalances, PMS and menstrual irregularities are just a few examples. However, if you ask an herbalist for advice on how to clear up chronic skin problems, including rashes, boils, eczema and psoriasis, she will probably give you a list of herbs for the liver.

Hepatitis and cirrhosis are two diseases that can badly damage your liver. Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver brought on by certain viruses or by overexposure to a toxic substance. This disease commonly causes a fever that is often accompanied by vomiting. About 20 percent of alcoholics can count on developing hepatitis after five to ten years of too much alcohol, but the disease can also result from poor nutrition, a viral or bacterial infection or toxic poisons.

Cirrhosis is a serious disease that changes the structure of the liver so that it cannot function properly. One of the biggest problems with cirrhosis is that less blood flows through the liver, and the toxins that are normally eliminated can now poison the body. About 20 percent of heavy drinkers eventually develop cirrhosis, and alcoholic hepatitis is often a precursor of cirrhosis. This condition can also be caused by poor nutrition (especially too little protein), poisonous substances, or a previous viral or bacterial infection that inflamed and weakened the liver.

The good news is that even a damaged liver retains an incredible ability to regenerate itself. The even better news is that herbs can help. Thanks to many scientific studies, mostly from Germany and the United States, we know that dandelion, burdock, chamomile, licorice and especially milk thistle can heal a damaged liver and protect it from further destruction. Clinical studies show that with these herbs, symptoms from liver damage, especially digestive problems, begin to improve in only two weeks. And as added benefits, people in the studies reported increased feelings of well-being and improved appetites.

Milk thistle most impressed the medical world when G. Vogel, M.D., used it to save lives in the 1970s. A leading milk thistle researcher, Dr. Vogel brought to his clinic 60 people suffering from severe mushroom poisoning. He gave them a compound called silymarin that was extracted from milk thistle and found that "results ranged from amazing to spectacular," even though most of the people were not treated until a full day after eating the bad mushrooms.

Dr. Vogel and other well-known plant researchers, including Hildebert Wagner, Ph.D., have found that the antioxidants in milk thistle called flavonoids are some of the most potent liver-protecting substances known. (Antioxidants prevent cell destruction and damage caused by the harmful compounds known as free radicals.) Studies conducted by these experts show that flavonoids work even better than the well-known antioxidant vitamin E. So do ginger and garlic, according to the results of numerous studies conducted all over the world. Similar flavonoids that improve liver function are also found in rosemary and grape leaves, which are used in Greek cooking. All of these herbs protect the liver from damage and increase the production of beneficial liver enzymes so that the liver can do its job better.

One important function of antioxidants is to protect the liver against damage from heavy metals and other toxic substances in the air and the food we eat. In case you think that heavy metal exposure is nothing to worry about, consider that more than 600,000 tons of lead are put into the atmosphere every year in the United States alone. Heavy metals are all around us—lead solder in tin cans, lead and cadmium in cigarette smoke, mercury in dental fillings and some cosmetics, and aluminum in antacids. Research conducted in Germany has shown that milk thistle helps protect the liver from drug and heavy metal poisoning. As a result, milk thistle is the basis for a number of German drugs used to treat liver problems.

Milk thistle is available in a number of preparations, but you can also sprinkle it onto your cereal or soup or incorporate it into other meals. To make milk thistle powder, buy whole seeds and grind them in a coffee grinder. Keep the powder on the table in a spice shaker.

Milk thistle is not the only member of the thistle family to come to the aid of the liver. If you like artichokes, you are in luck. While few American doctors consider artichoke a medical herb, European doctors regularly prescribe artichoke extracts to patients with liver problems. In fact, they have been using artichoke to treat jaundice and other liver complaints since as far back as the eighteenth century. Artichokes protect the liver from damage and help it regenerate—and yes, eating them for dinner counts. However, before you make up your shopping list, be aware that most commercial artichokes are highly sprayed, and if you are trying to heal your liver, pesticides are among the last things you want to eat.

It was not until the 1930s that German and French researchers began to study artichokes in their laboratories. Later, Italian researchers joined them to produce a substantial amount of research. In one study, dozens of Polish workers who were exposed to the toxic chemical fumes of carbon disulfide were given an artichoke extract for two years. The results of this study were presented in 1960 at the Symposium on Drugs Affecting Lipid Metabolism in Milan, Italy. Because of the artichoke, the workers did not experience the changes in their blood that would normally occur from inhaling this pollutant. The researchers found that artichoke is also useful in treating hepatitis because it helps reduce bile levels in the liver, thus decreasing congestion in the liver and the consequent risk of damage.

Licorice has been found to neutralize liver toxins. The Chinese may have been the first to use licorice to treat the liver. In modern times, licorice has been studied by the Research Group of Liver Disease at the Shanxi Medical College in China. Since the 1950s, medical doctors in both the East and the West have used a compound derived from licorice to treat chronic hepatitis. In Japan, glycyrrhizin, a compound extracted from licorice, was found to be so successful in treating hepatitis that it was written up in at least three scientific journals. One of these reported that licorice increased the production of interferon, which is commonly used to treat hepatitis B.

The Chinese herbs 21, shizandra and bupleurum also neutralize liver toxins. Studies conducted in China show that all these herbs work in several ways, including serving as antioxidants, to protect your liver and keep it healthy and strong. In one clinical study with shizandra, a tincture was given to a group of people with chronic hepatitis. Another group received vitamin E and a liver extract. After six months, almost 75 percent of those who were taking shizandra had normal blood tests, indicating that their problems were over. Those taking the vitamin E and liver extract improved only half as quickly and not as much. Of the more than 100 people who took shizandra, only 4 reported side effects: mild headaches and nausea. Shizandra was recently developed into a new drug by the Pharmaceutical Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. This herb has been proven to diminish hepatitis B in less than a month.

Bupleurum has also been the subject of some study. The organizers of one study described a compound found in this herb as remarkable in its ability to stop liver damage. Because of these findings, Japanese physicians who use modern Western medical methods have recently taken a hint from Japan's herbal doctors—they are now turning to traditional formulas that contain bupleurum. Their renewed interest in this herb has sparked several studies, which have shown that bupleurum can even help people who have had hepatitis for several years.

A whole list of herbs used in the Orient—ginger, turmeric, cardamom, ginseng (especially red ginseng), the Japanese plant ukon, reishi mushroom and psyllium seed—have been shown to reduce liver damage. In one Chinese study, about 75 percent of a group of people with chronic hepatitis were successfully treated with reishi mushroom, shizandra and Astragulus baicalensis. Their liver swelling went down, and their appetites improved.

Ginger actually gives other herbs a boost by improving the body's ability to assimilate them. Since the liver is responsible for breaking down substances in the blood, it eventually deactivates medicinal compounds in herbs. Ginger actually protects herbal compounds from being destroyed, making it possible for them to pass through the liver unchanged and thus continue circulating in the blood for a longer time. According to a 1981 study on the bioavailability of herbs, this is probably why ginger is found in so many traditional Ayurvedic and Chinese formulas. Research has shown that ginger, along with black pepper and the closely related long pepper, also improve the intestines' absorption of other herbs. These three herbs are the ingredients of the popular Ayurvedic formula called trikatu.

Turmeric is what gives the Eastern spice known as curry (which is actually a mixture of several different ground herbs) its yellow color. You get a healthy medicinal dose of this herb every time you eat foods seasoned with curry powder. Because the compounds found in turmeric are not water soluble, this herb is best taken as a pill or, even better, as a tincture.

Tamalaki, another herb from India, has been used by practitioners of Ayurvedic medicine for more than 2,000 years to treat liver disfunction. Recently, it has come to be used to treat hepatitis B. One study showed that even those who still had the virus had less chance of developing liver cancer if they continued to take tamalaki.

Of course, one of the best things you can do for your liver—and your general health—is to go easy on alcohol consumption. If you do overindulge, however, there are herbs that seem to help the liver. For example, ginseng can lower the alcohol level in your blood in 40 minutes, according to research on alcohol-lowering enzymes done by the Korean Ginseng and Tobacco Research Institute. Gamma linoleic acid (GLA) from evening primrose, borage and black currant seeds may prevent hangovers and poisoning and depression from alcohol, and may ease alcohol withdrawal. According to Brian Leonard, Ph.D., a researcher at the University College in Galway, Ireland, GLA also encourages regeneration of alcohol-damaged liver cells. Also, many herbalists have found that fennel seeds help reduce alcohol's effects.

Liver Tea

1 teaspoon each dandelion root, milk thistle seeds and roasted chicory root

½ teaspoon each sarsaparilla root, licorice root and ginger rhizome

1 quart water

Combine ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for a couple of minutes. Turn down heat and let steep for about 15 minutes. Strain and drink at least a cup a day.