The milk thistle plant (Silymarin marianum) is a plant with a high antioxidant content. The seeds of the plant are particularly high in silymarin, a collective name for a group of flavonolignans. Around 50 to 70 % of silymarin is comprised of the compound silybin (also called silibinin). Milk thistle has been used traditionally for the treatment of a number of degenerative brain conditions including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, as well as for cerebral ischaemia. Milk thistle may be able to protect the delicate tissues of the brain because the silymarin within the plant acts as an antioxidant, and in this way can prevent oxidation and inflammation. Both oxidation and inflammation are thought to be central to the development of many brain diseases and antioxidants have shown beneficial clinical effects against this process. Milk thistle extracts containing silymarin are available, but the bioavailability of silymarin is low with only 23 to 47 % of the compound reaching the systemic circulation.
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