Inflammatory bowel disease and St Mary’s Thistle
Ulcerative colitis (UC), which is classified alongside Crohn’s disease as an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), is an autoimmune condition that affects the rectum and colon.
While the exact pathogenesis of UC is not fully understood, it is believed that this is chronic inflammatory condition that involves an aberrant immune response against the gut microbiota which is triggered by environmental factors in genetically susceptible individuals.
Often the first point of call for medical treatment involves drugs that suppress immune activity and also reduce inflammation, such a steroids and anti-TNF medications. Unfortunately in some cases these drugs can have severe side-effects.
In a recent study, 80 patients diagnosed with UC participated in a clinical trial using St Mary’s Thistle, or to be more precise the active flavonolignans extracted for the seeds of St Mary’s Thistle (Silymarin marianum). This randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial aimed to investigate the therapeutic efficacy of silymarin in the management of UC patients.
These 80 patients either received 140 mg silymarin or placebo once per day alongside their standard medical therapies for a treatment period of six months. Symptoms including abdominal pain, diarrhoea, fatigue, anorexia and joint and eye complications were monitored throughout the treatment.
The disease activity index (DAI) was measured in each subject, including the number of daily defecations, amount of blood in the stool, fever, pulse rate, haemoglobin (Hb) levels and inflammatory markers (ESR).
At the completion of the trial, 100% of subjects in the silymarin group showed improvements in ESR and DAI, while 86.8% also showed improvement in Hb. In the placebo group, 9.4% of subjects showed improvement in DAI while 18.8% had a worsening of their symptoms.
The outcome of this trial indicated that silymarin improves Hb, ESR and DAI, supporting results obtained from previous animal studies.