According to a new study, it is possible to reduce liver damage resulting from chemotherapy by taking milk thistle, a medicinal herb containing substances effective in reducing liver inflammation.

Researchers say chemotherapy drugs cause liver inflammation, as a consequence of which, either the dose has to be lowered or treatment suspended to allow the inflammation to subside, with such interruptions in therapy making the treatment less effective.

Lead researcher, Dr. Kara Kelly says that milk thistle was found to be more effective in reducing inflammation, compared to placebo.

If, these results are confirmed, it will help cancer specialists treat liver inflammation with milk thistle, possibly even preventing it from occurring, allowing for better delivery of chemotherapy drugs.

A longtime folk remedy, the herb has been used for over 2,000 years for a variety of ailments, and as there is no other treatment for liver toxicity existing, often milk thistle is used for treating liver damage and mushroom poisoning.

For the study, 50-children undergoing chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia and who had liver inflammation when the study began, were given milk thistle or a placebo for 28-days.

Twenty-eight days later, those children who were receiving milk thistle showed an improvement in their liver enzymes, with lower levels of one enzyme in particular i. e. AST, as well as, another enzyme called ALT, compared to the children receiving placebos.

Milk thistle also helped patients tolerate higher chemotherapy doses, with 61% of the children receiving milk thistle needing dose reductions, compared to 72% of those taking placebos.

Previous studies have looked into whether milk thistle is useful for treating liver damage from hepatitis and cirrhosis.

The report has been published in the 14th December online edition of Cancer.