Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), the Hepatoprotective Functional Herb

By Kyle J. Norton

The liver is the largest internal organ located in the upper right portion of the abdomen, beneath your diaphragm and above your stomach.

The liver not only plays a critical role to filter the blood coming from the intestine before passing them to other parts of the body but also protects our body against toxin by detoxifying chemicals and metabolizes drugs.

Furthermore, the liver produces bile that not only aids the digestive function in food absorption but also builds strong cell membranes, produces vitamin D and steroid hormone.

Additionally, the liver also inhibits oxidative stress by producing the antioxidant enzyme that counters the expression of free radicals in the body.

The hepatoprotective effect is the action of the prevention of the liver against liver damage or toxicity.

There is no single cause of liver diseases. Researchers suggested that virus such as hepatitis A, B, C, long-term excessive alcohol drinking and genetic mutation inherited from the parents is the major risk factors associated with the early onset of the diseases.

Some researchers suggested overweight and obesity and congenital diseases such as Hemochromatosis and Wilson’s disease also are the prevalent risk factors of liver damage and diseases.

Liver damage and disease can also be caused by long-term intake of certain medications, such as paracetamol and Illegal drugs such as cocaine.

Sadly, the mortality rate infected by viral hepatitis has increased by 63% from 890,000 in 1990 to 1.45 million in 2013, according to a review of data collected in 183 countries.

Dandelion is a herbaceous perennial plant, genus Taraxacum, belongings to the family Asteraceae, native to temperate regions of the world. It has been used in traditional and herbal medicine to treat gout, eczema, acne, gall bladder, kidney, liver and urinary disorders, hypoglycemia, dyspepsia with constipation, edema, blood pressure, and heart weakness, chronic joint, skin diseases, etc.

On finding a natural ingredient for the prevention and treatment of liver injury, scientists examined the hepatoprotective activity of T. Officinale leaf extract against Acetaminophen (APAP)-induced hepatotoxicity.

According to the tested results, T. officinale decreased the thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance levels and prevent the decrease in sulfhydryl levels induced by 200 mg/kg APAP (p.o.).

Histopathological alterations, and increased levels of liver stress markers such as serum aspartate and alanine aminotransferases caused by APAP, were also inhibited by the application of T. Officinale at the doses of 0.1 and 0.5 mg/mL.

Moreover, T. Officinale extracts also enhanced the antioxidant and scavenger activity against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and nitric oxide radicals.

Collectively, researchers said, "hepatoprotective effect of T. Officinale against the toxicity induced by APAP. The possible mechanisms involved include its scavenger activities against ROS and reactive nitrogen species, which are attributed to the content of phenolic compounds in the extract".

Taken altogether, dandelion may be considered a remedy for the protection of the liver functioning, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Antioxidant properties of Taraxacum officinale leaf extract are involved in the protective effect against hepatoxicity induced by acetaminophen in mice by Colle D1, Arantes LP, Gubert P, da Luz SC, Athayde ML, Teixeira Rocha JB, Soares FA. (PubMed)