Tudca vs. milk thistle: which one to go for?

Learning about the liver

To understand the advantages of TUDCA vs milk thistle for liver health, we need to know more about this organ. Your liver is the largest solid organ in your body, and located on the right side of your upper abdomen. Dark red in colour, at any one time it holds about 13% of the body’s total blood supply.

The liver has numerous vital roles to play in keeping us fit and healthy – possibly as many as 500! For example, it produces bile and helps to break down the food we eat and convert it into energy. Your liver also stores fat-soluble vitamins, like vitamins A, D, and K, plus certain minerals. It even aids your immune system in fighting off infections.

What’s more, the liver filters toxins from the bloodstream and makes them less harmful to us. Alcohol is perhaps the most well-known substance the liver filters and removes, but far from the only one. All of which means it’s easy to see the importance of looking after this organ with TUDCA or milk thistle!

One particularly impressive fact about the liver is that it has the capacity to regenerate to a certain extent. After an injury, surgery, or similar, the liver can regrow back to its original size with no loss of function.

So, where does the TUDCA vs milk thistle debate come into all this? If the liver has the power to regenerate, does it really need products like these? What even are they? Time to get to know the challengers.

Milk thistle vs TUDCA: introducing the players

First up in the TUDCA vs milk thistle showdown is TUDCA. Formally known as tauroursodeoxycholic acid, TUDCA is a naturally occurring bile salt that’s found in tiny quantities in the liver. Bile is a yellowy-green fluid produced by the liver that helps us to break fats down into fatty acids. The body stores it in the gallbladder, releasing it into the small intestine when needed.

TUDCA is made when your gut bacteria metabolise bile salts into ursodeoxycholic acid, which then binds to a taurine molecule. It’s water-soluble, and available as a supplement in addition to the body producing it naturally. Practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine have been using it to support liver health for generations.

Our second contender in the TUDCA vs milk thistle faceoff is milk thistle. This striking plant grows on rocky slopes and has spiky purple flowers and bright green leaves with white veins. It contains a group of active compounds collectively known as silymarin. Silymarin is what gives milk thistle much of its impressive range of health benefits – most notably, its ability to protect the liver.

Like TUDCA, people have been using milk thistle to support their wellbeing for centuries. You can take it in oil, capsule, or powder form, making it quite versatile too. Thanks to the plant’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, plus its range of nutrients, milk thistle supports more than liver health alone. But we’ll come to that later! For the initial bout in this TUDCA vs milk thistle match, it’s all about the liver.

TUDCA vs milk thistle round one: benefits for liver health

In most tudca vs milk thistle debates, liver health is the primary focus. So, how do they benefit this key organ, and which comes out on top?

Let’s begin with TUDCA. Research has found that this bile salt can have a positive influence on liver health in a variety of ways. For instance, it might improve lipid profiles, reduce liver inflammation, and decrease hepatic fibrosis.(1) This could be particularly beneficial for supporting liver function as people age. Other studies indicate that TUDCA could assist with the treatment of liver cirrhosis and similar conditions.(2)

Furthermore, TUDCA acts as an anti-cholestatic agent.(3) That means it may help to tackle cholestasis, a condition in which the flow of bile is reduced or impaired. This is great news because cholestasis can cause unpleasant symptoms, including pain, fatigue, jaundice, and nausea.

So far, so good. But what about the other side of the TUDCA vs milk thistle discussion? Well, evidence shows that milk thistle also offers some impressive benefits for liver health. For starters, silymarin’s antioxidant properties help to protect liver cells from oxidative stress.(4) Furthermore, it functions as an anti-inflammatory too, further lessening liver damage and insulin resistance.(5)

Research suggests that milk thistle could be an effective complementary treatment for a range of harmful liver conditions. These include alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma.(6) It may also work to protect the liver from toxins by inhibiting them from binding to its cell membrane receptors.(7) What’s more, research indicates that the plant can do all this without a risk of adverse side effects.(8) That’s an important factor to consider when picking a winner in the TUDCA vs milk thistle battle.

TUDCA vs milk thistle round two: other wellness benefits

When thinking about TUDCA vs milk thistle, it’s not only their effects on liver health that we should look at. Each one also offers benefits for other aspects of wellbeing, which may help you choose between them.

Starting with TUDCA, evidence suggests that it might be beneficial in treating neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.(9) This is because it protects against apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Interestingly, TUDCA may also be advantageous for eye health for similar reasons. Studies indicate it could be useful in the treatment of ocular diseases and stave off retinal degeneration.(10) In addition, research shows that TUDCA can lessen inflammation and cell death in the kidneys.(11)

Turning to milk thistle, this plant has lots of advantages to support it in the TUDCA vs milk thistle showdown. For instance, it too might be neuroprotective thanks to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.(12) However, further investigation is necessary to clarify how useful it could be in treating neurodegenerative disorders in human patients. Experts also think that milk thistle could enhance bone health. Findings indicate that it may assist in preventing bone loss and tackling osteoporosis, particularly in postmenopausal women.(13)

There are also benefits of milk thistle for skin health. The antioxidant powers and vitamin E content of milk thistle oil help to fight free radical damage and skin ageing.(14) It could even aid in lessening the skin damage from sun exposure. Although, to clarify, you still need to wear sun cream!