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New research has found that a
popular alternative therapy may not offer any improvement for people with
chronic hepatitis C virus infection. Studies suggest up to one-third of people
with HCV have tried milk thistle extract, or silymarin, an antioxidant sold
over-the-counter as a dietary supplement. However, it proved no better than a
placebo at easing signs of the disease in a new study.
Researchers randomly assigned 154
people with chronic HCV who did not respond to standard prescription therapies
into one of three groups: 420 milligrams silymarin; 700 milligrams silymarin;
or placebo. All groups were to take two doses three times a day for almost half
a year.
At the beginning of the study and at
its end, researchers measured liver enzyme levels in the patients’ blood to see
how well the liver was working. After 24 weeks, just six people saw their
enzyme levels return to normal or decline enough to suggest significant
improvement: two patients each in both silymarin groups and two in the placebo
group.
“Taking [silymarin] would be
unlikely to have any benefit” for patients who failed on traditional HCV
therapy, said Dr. Michael Fried, lead study author, of the University of North
Carolina-Chapel Hill. “Focusing on keeping a healthy lifestyle to try to
minimize liver damage, that’s probably more important than taking these
supplements.”
“Avoiding things like alcohol and
maintaining your ideal body weight will go a long way toward maintaining liver
health in people with hepatitis C,” Fried said. “It’s important to stress that
there are a lot of advances in hepatitis C [treatment] for people who
previously didn’t respond to interferon-based medication.”
[PNU editor’s note: The full study,
“Effect of Silymarin (Milk Thistle) on Liver Disease in Patients with Chronic
Hepatitis C Unsuccessfully Treated with Interferon Therapy,” appeared in
Journal of the American Medical Association (2012;308(3):274-282).]
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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