Antioxidants Compared: Silymarin vs. Vitamin E
Your liver is right up there with your heart and your brain in ranking for most important organ.
It’s responsible for more than 500 functions that keep you alive and thriving.
Unfortunately, modern diets and lifestyles wreak havoc on our livers. When your liver is overwhelmed with toxins, proteins, fats and sweeteners it can become sluggish, producing inefficient bile and failing to perform its vital duties.
Liver disease can be life threatening. It can be caused by alcohol, pharmaceutical and over-the-counter drug use, obesity and infection.
Fortunately, the antioxidants silymarin and vitamin E are effective for both preventing and fighting liver disease.
What are these nutrients, and how do they work?
What is silymarin?
Silymarin is an active compound in milk thistle seeds. It’s a kind of antioxidant, classified as a flavonoid.
It has many positive effects for your overall health but is particularly known for its liver benefits.
BetterNutrition.com reports: “Silymarin protects the liver by reducing inflammation, enhancing production of glutathione (an antioxidant), and stimulating the production of new liver cells by accelerating protein and DNA synthesis.“
This is a nutrient that supports, protects, heals and repairs your liver, all at the same time.
Better yet, there are no known side effects to using silymarin, and it doesn’t interact with any drugs or other supplements you might be using.
You can find it as a supplement in both liquid and pill form. Or, you can find it naturally in milk thistle.
The most effective way to glean the natural benefits of silymarin is by consuming milk thistle extract or oil, as the nutrient has already been extracted from the seeds and is readily available for your body to use.
If you choose a premium source of silymarin, such as Panaseeda Milk Thistle Oil, you’ll find that it’s easy to incorporate into your daily routine and that your liver begins to benefit immediately.
All Panaseeda oils are Perfectly Pressed and bottled in Miron glass. They are guaranteed to be fresh and potent.
You can learn more about Panaseeda Milk Thistle Oil and its other health benefits here.
Other benefits of milk thistle and silymarin
Milk thistle, the best source of silymarin, is also known to help prevent disease. It boosts your immune system, is great for cellular health, and more.
Milk thistle doesn’t just protect your liver, it helps your kidneys too, and in similar ways. It protects your kidneys from damage and encourages repair and regeneration of cells.
It has benefits for your heart too, including helping to lower LDL cholesterol and blood pressure. Plus, it can help to balance your blood sugar levels, which is especially helpful for diabetics.
Milk thistle is also thought to protect your brain, stopping the formation of toxic proteins that cause conditions like Alzheimer’s.
Now on to vitamin E
Many people know of vitamin E but a lot of them don’t realize that it is an antioxidant. In fact, it is a very powerful antioxidant that appears to heal and prevent non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by protecting against damage to cell membranes.
It’s a nutrient that you can find in many common foods, like spinach, sweet potatoes, avocados, almonds and sunflower seeds. That’s just to name a few.
If you want to supplement with it, NewportNaturalHealth.com report that you should: “Look for a product containing natural vitamin E, which you can identify by its chemical name, d-alpha-tocopherol. The form dl-alpha-tocopherol is synthetic and not nearly as effective. I recommend 400 IU daily.“
Vitamin E supplements are usually found in vegetable capsules, powdered pills or as an extract in liquid form (usually with other ingredients, like alcohol, oil or glycerin). Look for a supplement with natural, organic ingredients where possible.
Other benefits of vitamin E
As all antioxidants do, it fights oxidative stress and improves cellular health, protecting your body from disease and helping to repair cells.
Plus, your heart will thank you since vitamin E also prevents hardening of your arteries and can help balance cholesterol levels. If you’re at risk of high blood pressure, vitamin E can help with that too.
Why choose one over the other?
Well, silymarin is somewhat harder to come by. It can be found in a few different sources, but the only one that has really useful quantities is milk thistle.
Vitamin E, on the other hand, is easy to get from foods and there are many different kinds of supplements that offer it too.
Having said that, silymarin doesn’t pose any potential dangers to your health, where vitamin E can…
For those who are vulnerable, there is a serious risk of stroke or other blood-related problems as a result of using vitamin E in supplement form.
There is also a list of medications and other supplements that interact with vitamin E, meaning you have to do your research before you start on it.
It is recommended that you consult a doctor before using it and that you continue to be regularly monitored while taking it.
Some doctors question the need to supplement with vitamin E at all (unless you are found to be vitamin E deficient), since you really should get plenty from your diet if you’re maintaining a healthy, balanced lifestyle.
If you’re already getting plenty of vitamin E daily, silymarin is likely a better option for you for supplementing, so you don’t experience side effects associated with excessive vitamin E use.
Silymarin has no serious side effects and will not interact with medications or supplements.
I usually recommend getting vitamin E from food sources like spinach, sweet potatoes, almonds and pure, unrefined sunflower oil while supplementing with Perfectly Pressed Panaseeda Milk Thistle Oil.
You don’t have to choose
Both of these nutrients are effective at protecting and healing your liver. They each offer useful health benefits in addition to their liver preserving abilities.
When it comes to supplements, silymarin is easier to source naturally and has fewer (if any) potential issues attached to it. That’s why it gets my vote.
Panaseeda Milk Thistle oil offers a natural source of silymarin that is organic and bioavailable. This is how you offer your liver the cream of the crop.
Click here to learn more about this product, and remember to love your liver!
Related Links:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21332331
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3142951/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26997594
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26367736
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14748853
http://natural-remedies.healthgrove.com/compare/65-96/Milk-thistle-vs-Vitamin-E
http://jjnpp.com/?page=article&article_id=3213
http://www.betternutrition.com/silymarin/
http://www.livingnaturally.com/ns/DisplayMonograph.asp?storeID=3D9D155236034A5897378F7C5A033221&DocID=milkthistle
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0300483X03001884
http://www.liversupport.com/is-vitamin-e-wise-for-liver-health/
https://www.newportnaturalhealth.com/2012/04/show-your-liver-some-love/
http://www.naturalnews.com/030445_fatty_liver_disease_vitamin_E.html