Liver Cleanse
The first supplement in the Detox Nutrient Packs is called “Liver Cleanse”, and it contains potent extracts of a number of botanicals, including dandelion root, burdock root, milk thistle seeds, and berberine, plus a couple more. All of these botanicals have been shown through scientific studies to aid the liver in the essential processes of phase I and phase II detoxification.
Dandelion root has an extremely powerful effect on a group of enzymes called “UDP-glucoronosyl transferases”, or UGTs for short. Of all the enzymatic pathways for phase II detoxification, UGTs may be the most important because they conjugate so many of the most common drugs, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol). In studies done with herbal teas, dandelion root was found to increase the activity of UGT by 244%! Dandelion root also had a minor effect on certain phase I enzymes, increasing their activity by 15%.
Burdock root, in addition to demonstrating antioxidant and hepatoprotective (liver protecting) qualities, also has been shown to restore glutathione levels in the liver. Glutathione is a nutrient essential in certain phase II enzymatic pathways. In addition, depleted levels of glutathione have been linked to chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease!
Milk thistle also plays a direct role involving glutathione. Whereas burdock root helps our body restore levels of glutathione, milk thistle seed contains phytochemicals which help protect against glutathione depletion. In addition, milk thistle is a hepatoprotective agent like dandelion root.
Berberine is another powerful phytochemical which protects the liver and other cells against depletion of glutathione. Berberine also induced DNA to repair itself and reduced the incidence of liver lesions, making it a potent hepatoprotective agent as well!
When all of these botanical extracts are combined, they significantly increase our liver’s ability to do phase II detoxification, especially through guarding our glutathione reserves. Glutathione depletion is an all-too-common result of the toxic burden constantly being placed upon our body by alcohol, prescription drugs, and chemicals from food; Liver Cleanse does a great job of helping the body restore those levels and keep them high!
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