Milk thistle is a popular remedy for liver disease. For some it's just a weed, but for many others, it's a well-known medicinal plant that helps lessen the damage of chronic hepatitis. This stout, spiny plant has an excellent reputation among alternative medicine supporters--but does milk thistle earn its two-thousand year reputation in light of 21st-century medical science?

The medical literature is unclear. Milk thistle appears to be very safe for most people, but its benefits haven't been conclusively demonstrated for hepatitis patients. Some studies conclude that milk thistle provides some kind of protection to the liver, but many other studies don't show this. Unfortunately, to complicate matters, many of these studies have design flaws. So, it's difficult to develop strong conclusions (either for or against) from the existing research. Truly, more quality research is needed.

Until this type of research is available, what's a good strategy? Certainly, talk with your doctor if you're thinking about taking milk thistle. Though this may seem like a harmless natural therapy, milk thistle is still a drug that can affect your liver. If you have liver disease, you need to be very careful about the medicines you take, including natural and over-the-counter. And, if you're currently treating chronic hepatitis, you want to be sure milk thistle doesn't interact poorly with your prescribed therapy.

More information about milk thistle is available. Since an informed patient needs to consider the benefits and criticisms of alternative treatments, here is general information about taking alternative medicine. And if you have liver damage, some herbal medicines just need to be avoided completed. Here's a list of seven dangerous herbs for your liver.

Can drinking coffee help slow the effects of chronic hepatitis C? According to a new study, people with hepatitis C who drank three or more cups of coffee per day had a lower risk of liver disease progression (53% lower risk) than non-coffee drinkers.

The research, published in the journal Hepatology, followed 766 patients who all had chronic hepatitis C with detectable HCV RNA, advanced hepatic fibrosis (liver scarring), and interestingly, previously treated with peginterferon and ribavirin but didn't reach SVR (What Is SVR?). Compared to the non-coffee drinking patients, people who drank more coffee had less progression of liver disease. Those who drank one to three cups of coffee per day were 30 percent less likely to progress, but those who drank three or more cups each day had a 53 percent lower risk.

So what do we make of this research? Should we all start drinking coffee in hopes of a healthy liver? At this point, this is just interesting information. There are over one thousand chemical compounds in coffee and no one knows which are responsible for any potential benefit. Since this is the first study to compare the effects of coffee on people with hepatitis C, more studies are needed. However, according to the study's researchers, the idea of drinking a cup of coffee (or three, actually!) to help the liver isn't as strange as it may seem. Drinking coffee could affect liver disease by affecting insulin and glucose levels in the blood. Furthermore, coffee may actually reduce inflammation that can lead to fibrosis and cirrhosis.

Having hepatitis B is no 'fun and games' but what about a hepatitis B crossword puzzle? That can be an interesting diversion, especially if you're a devoted puzzler.

Of course, avid puzzlers usually enjoy the kind published in the Sunday New York Times, but here are some hepatitis B-themed examples you may also enjoy. To complete Hepatitis B and Me, you'll need to use your basic knowledge of hepatitis B. Likewise, here's another crossword puzzle that you'll need to use what you already know to finish. It also includes a word search where you need to find 33 hepatitis-related words hidden in a jumble of letters.

Before you start these, you can refresh your understanding of hepatitis B by reviewing this short introduction to HBV Infection.

What do you know about viral hepatitis and sex? In the alphabet soup of hepatitis viruses, it can be difficult to remember which ones spread through sexual contact and which do not. Since it's important for people to understand their risk, here's a simple outline of hepatitis virus sexual transmission.

Knowing which viruses are more likely to spread during sexual contact is just one step in protecting yourself. The second step is to understand the best way in preventing spread. Vaccination is a good prevention strategy for hepatitis A and hepatitis B. Here's more information about the hepatitis A vaccine and the hepatitis B vaccine. However, preventing hepatitis C requires a different approach because no vaccine is currently available.