Milk Thistle Extract
Milk Thistle (Silybum Marianum of the family Asteraceae) is a medicinal thistle that has been used in traditional medicines. It derives its name Silybum (sometimes also sillybon) from the greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides (used just to refer to being an edible thistle) and Marianum appears to come from a legend that the white veins running through the plant’s leaves (the ‘Milk’ aspect of Milk Thistle) were caused by a drop of the Virgin Mary’s milk. Due to the association with the Virgin Mary (Christianity), other names sometimes attributed to Milk Thistle include Marian thistle, Mary thistle, St Mary’s thistle, Our Lady’s thistle, Holy thistle, sow thistle, Blessed Virgin thistle, Christ’s crown, Venue thistle, heal thistle, and variegated thistle with other names not related to Mary being Wild Artichoke and Carduus marianus.
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Specifications: Silymarin 80% (silybin 40%); silybin 30%~35%; silybin+isosilybin 30%
Botanical name: Silybum marianum L.
Characters: Yellow brown Powder
Odour: Characteristic
Mesh: 80
Composition
When looking at Milk Thistle itself (prior to any extraction), the fruits or thistles contain:
Silymarin at 1.5-3% of dry weight (to be elucidated later)
Silyhermin and both Neosilyhermin A and B
Protein and Mucilage (taking up 25-30% of the herb by dry weight)
Quercetin and the dihydro varient known as Taxifolin
Kaempferol, Dihydrokaempferol, and the 7-glucoside and 3-sulphate of Kaempferol
Apigenin (and 7-O-Glucoside, 4,7-Diglucoside, and 7-O-Glucuronide)
Eriodyctiol, Chrysoeriol, and Naringin
5,7-Dihydroxychromone
Vitamin E at 0.038%
Sterols (cholesterol, campesterol, stigmasterol and sitosterol) at 0.63%
The leaves further contain:
Luteolin and its 7-O-Glucoside
Triterpene acetate
Fumaric acid
When processed into an ethanolic extract and sold as Milk Thistle Extract (most common supplemental form), the composition tends to be:
65-80% ‘Silymarin’ (concentrated from 1.5-3% of the plant)
20-35% Fatty acids (Linoleic at 60%, Oleic at 30%, and Palmitic at 9%; roughly)
The Silymarin component specifically includes:
Silybinin (diastereoisomeric blend of Silybinin A and Silybinin B) which comprises 50-70% of Silymarin (and by extension, 39-56% of ‘Milk Thistle Extract’)
Isosilibin (Isosilybin A and Isosilybin) comprising about 5% of Silymarin
Silychristine and Isosilychristine[5] at around 20% Silymarin
Silydianin at around 10% Silymarin
Taxifolin (Quercetin conjugate known as Dihydroquercetin usually in nearly undetectable levels
The term ‘Flavonolignans’ is used to refer to seven compounds with the prefix of ‘Sily-‘ or ‘Isosily-‘. These compounds are pictured below, with changes at the α/β carbons confering the other isomers (A and B in the case of Silybinin and Isosilibin, Silychristine in the case of Isosilichristine; Silydianin nor Taxifolin have known isomers in the Silymarin mixture).
Storage and shelf life:
Storage: 1kg foil bag, 25kg/drum ,double plastic bags for inner packing and carton drum for outer packing
Stored conditions: Cool&dry place. Do not freeze. Keep away from strong light and heat
Shelf time: 3 years when stored properly.