Homeopathic tinctures

Question

Dear expert team!
I give my daughter (16 years old, CF) again and again the Marian thistle tincture from the company Sagrusan (www.sagrusan.at),
according to the motto "if it does not help it can at least not harm!" Now, however, I am not sure anymore, as those tinctures, like nearly all homeopathic tinctures, are conserved with alcohol?
For me, it does then not make sense to produce such "drugs" for protection of the liver at all, as those would surely be also harmful for non-CF patients, who want to do something for the liver for other reasons?
Actually I have chosen this method instead of the capsules from the Marian thistle, as one says, that they contain barely any active agents anymore.
I would like to hear your opinion about this.
Thank you and best regards,

Answer

Dear questioner,
you ask about the reasonableness of the usage of a tincture of the Marian thistle, here from the company Sagrusan, for your 16-year-old daugther with CF.
You also ask, why alcohol is used as an conservative, because alcohol can however be harmfull for the liver.

For answering your questions we have also invoved our pharmaceutical expert Mrs. Dr. Eva-Maria Miserre an would like to answer your questions as follows:

Areas of application for the preparations of fruits of the Marian thistle are: toxic liver damange, as a supportive therapy in case of chronic inflammatory liver diseases and liver cirrhosis. A positive judgment of the effectiveness is given from the commission E (scientific commission of experts for herbal drugs of the German Federal Institute for drugs) in a written monography for fruits of the Marian thistle, which is used in Germany as a basis for authorization of herbal drugs.
In order to achieve a hepato-protective effect, a daily dosage of 200-400mg of the substance complex silymarin (ingredient of the fruit of the Marian thistle) is recommended. According to this scientifically accepted recommendation it is therefore important, to use a preparation, that provides a standardized content of silymarin, in order to achieve the necessary daily dosage.
The extraction of silymarin from the fruit of the Marian thistle is done by extraction with e.g. alcohol, mixtures of acteon and water or other alcohols, as silymarin is hardly water soluble. Therefore the alcohol in the tincture is not a conservative, but an extraction medium, in order to isolate the substance. As one can see from the Internet site of the company Sagrusan, the tincture of the Marian thistle is not a herbal drug or homeopathic drug, however a herbal nutritional supplement. In the description of the preparation tincture of the Marian thistle the ingredients are mentioned without telling a standardized content.
Alternatively there is a great choice of silymarin tablets on the German drug market, that contain the recommended amount of substance in the form of dry extracts and like this at the same time the usage of alcoholic drops can be forgone.
Finally it can be said, that the usage of fruits of the Marian thistle in case of CF falls under the area of so-called "treatments with unproven efficacy". Hereby it deals with treatments where scientifically controlled proof-studies are missing, however in daily life a positive effect on quite some patients could be seen. The decision about the usage of substances without proven effet should be made individaully and always after consultaton of the treating physician.
We hope to have helped you with our remarks ,
Yours sincerely,
Dr. med. Christina Smaczny

19.05.2014