Milk thistle alters thyroid hormone transport. (Thyroidpatients.ca, 2022)

[GlassCannonLife]

https://thyroidpatients.ca/2022/01/16/milk-thistle-thyroid-transport/

Very interesting new write up from the thyroidpatients.ca blog on milk thistle, namely silymarin and silychristin, and their sometimes dramatic effects on the hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroidal (HPT) axis.

 

[Pyrrhus]

From the article:

1. The milk thistle plant provides an extract consisting of many flavonolignans. The extract is called “silymarin” (SY).
2. One component of silymarin is the flavonolignan called “silychristin” (SC).

[...]
Many insights into thyroid hormone metabolism are revealed by two studies of milk thistle and thyroid hormones.

• In 2008, an experiment on mice showed that T3 levels as well as T4-T3 conversion via deiodinase type 1 (D1) in liver rise significantly during SY treatment of chemically-induced liver fibrosis. As T3 rose, so did recovery of liver and kidney function (Jatwa & Kar, 2008).
• In 2016, scientists found that milk thistle’s silychristin (SC) is the most potent inhibitor of MCT8 known to science. At concentrations used in clinical settings, it can directly compete with T3 and T4 transport into cells. (Johannes et al, 2016)