Interaction between Vit. K and Milk Thistle?

[wkw333]

is there any drug reaction if you take VIT. K and milk thistle?

[allmymarbles]

You are very helpful. Many thanks.

[Paxiled]

There's always new stuff, unfortunately.  But milk thistle has been used a long time, and vitamin K has always been in the body, so why not take a shot at the old edition?  Another option is to telephone Herb Pharm, one of the best herb companies around.  Tell them you use their milk thistle tincture and ask about this issue and see what they say.  Prescription for Nutritional Healing also has a section on contraindications in every disorder discussion, and they have a Prescription for Herbal Healing as well.  Planetary Formulas is another good company to ask.  The herbalists who own both companies would have been active in formulating materials for the American Herbal Products Association.  Another possible cheaper source is find out what company Michael Murray works for now.  He's moved around.  He's a naturopath who wrote much of the material for the AHPA as well.  Hope this helps.

[allmymarbles]

I looked up the American Herbal Products Association and found that they have a book on botanical safety. The first edition is available and a second edition will be available by the end of the year. Do you think the first edition is terribly out of date, and may perhaps contain inaccurate information? The second edition, at almost $100, is too expensive to consider buying. Also, how useful do you find it? Many thanks for your reply.

[Paxiled]

Neither of these is a drug, but because Vitamin K is fat soluble, milk thistle, which helps the liver to release toxins, might release a certain amount of any fat soluble substance since they're dealt with by the liver.  That's why milk thistle is generally not taken on a regular basis, but only when you need a cleanse.  There are other protective antioxidants specific to the liver that can be taken regularly since they don't act to expel anything, such as lipoic acid and wheat grass (glutathione precursor).  But it shouldn't expel enough to cause danger.  The American Herbal Products Association is a good place to go to find resources on what herbalists actually know of these substances, since what gov't and university researchers study isn't always accurate for substances they have hostility toward.  Unfortunately, when dealing with herbs, the research is seldom definitive, because for most questions nobody has the money to look that deeply.

[gymdandee]

I know of none! You can check the link below.
http://nccam.nih.gov/sites/nccam.nih.gov/files/herbs/NIH_Herbs_at_a_Glance.pdf