Milk Thistle Hangover

Milk thistle hangover remedies are the fashion right now with those interested in natural hangover cures and homeopathy. Milk thistle has been used by people in the Mediterranean area for 2,000 years as a remedy for liver ailments. Milk thistle extract is an anti-oxidant known to strength the liver's cells against toxins.

Milk Thistle HangoverWhether milk thistle works best as a hangover preventive measure or a cure for hangover, that's still left to be decided. But there's centuries of evidence that milk thistle helps short-term liver problems, though clinical studies have yet to prove that the plant extract helps liver disease in the long term. Let's look at the plant itself, then move on to its uses.

What Is Milk Thistle Extract?

Milk thistle extracts are seeds taken from the milk thistle plant, which grows in Southern Europe along the Mediterranean, along the North African coast and in the Middle East. Milk thistle is a flowering plant which produces a milky sap, which gives the plant its name.

Herbalists noted at least two-thousand years ago that milk thistle seeds protected the liver against toxins. Since then, the plant extract has been used to treat chronic liver ailments, though the effectiveness of this latter use is still somewhat in doubt.

Silymarin Liver Treatments

Milk thistle contains silymarin, a substance being studies for its effects on those with liver disease and hepatitis C virus. Extracts from milk thistle seeds have been used in liver tonics, while people in the 16th century ate the plant much like they would artichoke, and apparently the trimmed version can be a spinach substitute.

So milk thistle contains a substance that should help you recover from certain hangover effects. Keep in mind that no one claims milk thistle is going to cure an upset stomach or a headache directly, but it should help detoxify your liver. Let's discuss what milk thistle extract can do for you.

Milk Thistle Claims

Those who use milk thistle have claimed many medicinal uses, from reducing the growth of cancer to coping with withdrawals symptoms from opiates. Most of these are yet to be proven, so don't take the following list as a sign we're endorsing milk thistle as cures in these events.

These are the uses being studied, though nothing conclusive has been found. Once again, I would suggest that more than one of these will probably prove to be false hopes. But our question today is: does milk thistle extra cure hangovers?

Can You Cure Hangovers with Milk Thistle?

Cure Hangovers with Milk ThistleTaking milk thistle herbal pills probably help in preventing a hangover, because the extract strengthens the walls of your liver cells against toxins. That's a preventive measure, though. Whether you can cure hangovers with milk thistle taken after the fact another matter altogether. Milk Thistle may not be able to purge your liver of the toxins in alcohol after they've ben consumed.

Some people swear by milk thistle, but these people are likely to be taking herbal extracts before a heavy drinking session. These people are also more likely to take other pre-binge steps, like getting a full meal before drinking heavily. One of the worst things you can do is to drink on an empty stomach.

That's because alcohol irritates the lining of your stomach, and damages the lining, if you drink enough alcohol. Drinking on an empty stomach exposes your stomach to the full force of alcohol, while eating beforehand means the food soaks up a significant amount of alcohol. This not only keeps much of the alcohol from direct contact with your stomach lining, but also means you'll digest a certain amount of the liquor slower.

Using Milk Thistle to Cure Hangovers

If I were going to suggest taking milk thistle hangover pills, I would make it a part of a wider anti-hangover strategy. Here's a five-step process to limiting your hangovers.

  1. Eat a full meal, avoiding greasy foods.
  2. Take Milk Thistle Pills Before Drinking.
  3. Drink 2 or more glasses of water throughout the night, to avoid dehydration.
  4. Before going to sleep, take 2 aspirin and drink 2-3 glasses of water.
  5. Sleep sitting up, so the blood doesn't pool in your brain, while you sleep.

This helps with three major aspects of hangovers: dehydration, liver damage and nausea. Nausea is prevented by eating a meal before you drink, while the aspirin and sleeping method helps avoid those pounding headaches the next day. Milk thistle helps defend your liver from toxic buildup, while keeping your body properly hydrated helps maintain a whole litany of proper body functions.

More Natural Hangover Remedies

If you want to explore other natural hangover cures, look into berocca, ginseng, the ingredients of "tiger balm", bananas, asparagus, mustard powder and wasabi. Each of these have been touted at one time or another as a cure for hangovers, and most have scientific reasoning to help back up these claims. To read more, look at our article called "Natural Hangover Cures".

Remember when exploring natural ways to treat hangovers that water is as natural as it gets, and water is going to be an essential hangover cure. You need to rehydrate from the dehydration process caused by drinking to much alcohol, while also flushing your system of toxins, and water is going to do a better job than any other substance you can take. I can't say this often enough: drink plenty of water to get over a hangover quicker.

Hangovers and Milk Thistle

Most of the time, herbal remedies have a limited effect on overall body health, especially when we're talking about something as patently unhealthy as extreme boozing. But milk thistle hangover pills should help with certain hangover conditions, as long as you make it part of an overall hangover reduction strategy. Milk thistle is not a cure-all, though, so don't assume that you pop two pills and you'll never have a hangover again.