Title:Milk Thistle: A Future Potential Anti-Osteoporotic and Fracture Healing Agent
Volume: 14
Issue: 14
Author(s): Nur Farhana Mohd Fozi, Mazliadiyana Mazlan, Ahmad Nazrun Shuid and Isa Naina Mohamed
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Antiosteoporosis, flavonoids, fracture, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), milk thistle, osteoporosis, silymarin.
Abstract: Osteoporosis is a progressive disease of the skeleton characterised by bone fragility due to a reduction in bone
mass and possibly to alteration in bone architecture that lead to a propensity to fracture with minimum trauma. Most osteoporotic
fractures occur at locations rich in trabecular or cancellous bone and usually related to post menopausal
women. Recently, silymarin received attention due to its alternative beneficial effect on bone formation. It is a mixture of
flavonoids with powerful antioxidant properties. This review focuses on the use of milk thistle or silymarin for the treatment
of osteoporosis that may be related to fracture bone. Silymarin shows potent antioxidant herb that may modulate
multiple genes in favour of helping to build bone and prevent bone loss. In the mouse fracture healing model, silymarin
supplementation improved tibial healing with elevated BMD and serum levels of ALP and osteocalcin. Silymarin also
demonstrated clear estrogenic antiosteoporotic effects in bone structure. Silymarin appears to play a crucial role to prevent
bone loss and might regulate osteogenesis and may be beneficial for fracture healing. If silymarin is considered for the use
of post menopausal women, it may be used for the treatment of osteoporosis. It would be of great benefit to postmenopausal
women to develop an oestrogen antagonist that is as potent and efficacious as oestrogen in preventing bone loss
without the major side effect associated with HRT.
