New research from Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian and Columbia University Medical Center has revealed that silymarin, the mixture of chemicals found in milk thistle, offers liver-protective effects for children receiving cancer chemotherapy.

An editorial by Drs. Kara Kelly, Janice Post-White, and Elena Ladas, covers the entire scope of milk thistle used in cancer treatment, “This special issue [of Integrative Cancer Therapies (ICT) published by SAGE] presents both preclinical and clinical studies demonstrating the potential role of milk thistle as an anticancer agent. No other medications or supplements are currently available that preserve liver function and provide clinical benefits,” write the guest editors in their opening editorial…“The clinical potential for a liver-protective supplement in cancer care is significant, as I’ve observed in many years of integrative medical practice,” writes Dr. Keith Block, ICT editor. “Several chemotherapy drugs, as well as many of the other drugs cancer patients take, have extremely problematic liver toxicities.”

—ANI, 7/11/07