Regenil composition and action

The ingredients of Regenil are famous for their beneficial impact on the function of liver and gastro-intestinal tract.

Milk thistle (Silybium marianum)

Members of this genus grow as annual or biennial plants. The erect stem is tall, branched and furrowed but not spiny. The large, alternate leaves are waxy-lobed, toothed and thorny, as in other genera of thistle. The lower leaves are cauline (attached to the stem without petiole). The upper leaves have a clasping base. They have large, disc-shaped pink-to-purple, rarely white, solitary flower heads at the end of the stem. The flowers consist of tubular florets. The phyllaries under the flowers occur in many rows, with the outer row with spine-tipped lobes and apical spines. The fruit is a black achene with a white pappus.

It is believed to give some remedy for liver diseases (e.g. viral hepatitis) and an extract, silymarin, is used in medicine. The adverse effect of the medicinal use of milk thistle is loose stools.

Milk thistle has been reported to have protective effects on the liver and to improve its function. It is typically used to treat liver cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis (liver inflammation), and gallbladder disorders. The active compound in Milk thistle is silymarin, a mixture of at least 4 closely related flavonolignans, 60% to 70% of which is a mixture of 2 diastereomers of silybin. Silymarin is typically administered in amount ranging from 200-500mg per day.

Beside benefits for liver disease, treatment claims include:
Lowering cholesterol levels. Reducing insulin resistance in people with type 2 diabetes who also have cirrhosis.

Artichoke (Cynara scolymus)

The Globe Artichoke (Cynara scolymus) is a perennial thistle originating in southern Europe around the Mediterranean. It grows to 1.5-2 m tall, with arching, deeply lobed, silvery glaucous-green leaves 50–80 cm long. The flowers develop in a large head from an edible bud about 8–15 cm diameter with numerous triangular scales; the individual florets are purple. The edible portion of the buds consists primarily of the fleshy lower portions of the involucral bracts and the base, known as the "heart"; the mass of inedible immature florets in the center of the bud are called the "choke."

Globe Artichokes were first cultivated at Naples around the middle of the 9th century, and are said to have been introduced to France by Catherine de' Medici. The Dutch introduced artichokes to England, where they were growing in Henry VIII's garden at Newhall in 1530. They were introduced to the United States in the 19th century, to Louisiana by French immigrants and to California by Spanish immigrants. The name has originated from ardi shauki (أرضي شوكي), which is Arabic for ground-thorn, through the Italian, carciofo.

Dried or fresh leaves and/or stems of Cynara are used as a choleretic (to increase bile production), to treat gallstones, and as a tonic for convalescence.

Pharmacologic action: it stimulates the metabolization of the cholesterol in the liver; it is diuretic, tonic, depurative, hypoglycaemic.

Young artichokes consumed in their raw condition are indicated in chronic diarrheas.

Phytotherapy uses the artichoke leaves.

The preparations made from the artichoke (teas, powder, tincture) have got exceptional therapeutic qualities in case of the disorders of the blood circulation, of the hepatic and renal ones.
The artichoke powder, made from dried up leaves, is given to the patients in 2-4 grams a day quantities, in several steps and the recommendation is that it should be kept under the tongue for a few minutes and then swallowed with water.

Synthetically speaking, artichoke preparations may be used for treating cardio-vascular, liver, kidney disorders, eczemas, diabetes, podagra, hemorrhoids and for regenerating hepatic cells.