Some dietary supplements are beneficial when taken on their own but can offer more advantages when combined with other natural ingredients. When it comes to liver health, three supplements complement each other. They are milk thistle, artichoke, and turmeric.

Milk Thistle and the Liver

Milk thistle—also known as Silybum marianum—is a plant found in Mediterranean countries. It contains a compound called silymarin, which a 2022 review shares has been used medicinally since ancient times to treat a variety of liver disorders, also helping to protect this important organ. (1)

The review goes on to say that silymarin is a combination ingredient itself: a mixture of silybin, silidianin, and silychristin. These three substances work together to promote greater health via their anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-fibroid properties.

Individual studies have found positive effects between milk thistle and liver disease. One involved 52 morbidly obese subjects with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a condition that has since been renamed metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). After taking a milk thistle supplement for two months, combined with a lower-calorie diet, the subjects’ fatty liver and liver enzymes improved, and they reported no negative side effects. (2)

Artichoke’s Role in Liver Health

Many people enjoy eating artichokes. You can add artichoke to spinach dip for a tasty snack, stuff it with breadcrumbs and cheese for a filling side dish, or roast it in the oven.

But there’s another reason to add more artichokes to your diet. They’re good for liver health.

A different 2022 review looked at the effects of artichoke leaf extract on people with NAFLD. After analyzing five trials, researchers reported that this extract helped protect these individuals’ liver health by reducing enzymes correlated with liver injury and by lowering their cholesterol levels, including their total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (“bad” cholesterol), and triglycerides. (3)

A 2023 review published in the Journal of Genetic and Environmental Resources Conservation adds that artichoke provides these benefits because it contains a substance with similar effects as silymarin. This substance is called cynarin and helps protect the liver while aiding in cell regeneration. (4)

How Turmeric Benefits Liver Health

This yellow or orange-brown colored spice has been associated with many health benefits. Research has connected turmeric with positive effects on heart disease, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, gastrointestinal disorders, and more. (5) It’s also been linked to greater liver health.

A 2021 study looked at the effects of turmeric on patients with NAFLD. Sixty-four subjects were split into two groups, half receiving turmeric for eight weeks and the other half receiving a placebo or fake ingredient. By the time the study was completed, the group receiving the actual turmeric had significantly lower liver enzymes and cholesterol levels while the placebo group did not. (6)

These effects may be even greater with a curcumin-turmeric supplement. A 2023 meta-analysis found that while curcumin (the main turmeric curcuminoid) on its own hasn’t been shown to provide significant liver benefits, a curcumin-turmeric combination has been associated with improved liver health markers. (7)

Support Liver Health with a Combination Supplement

If milk thistle, artichoke, and turmeric are all beneficial for liver health, you may be tempted to go out and buy a bottle of each supplement. An easier and often less expensive approach is to find a combination option, or a supplement that contains all three ingredients, offering a more holistic approach.

Natural Wellness provides this option via its Milk Thistle with Artichoke & Turmeric supplement.

This supplement contains milk thistle seed extract, a curcumin complex (turmeric root extract), and artichoke leaf extract. It is lab-verified for quality and potency, using ingredient dosages based on science.

Why buy three liver support supplements when you can get all these important ingredients in one product? Fortunately, you don’t have to since products such as these offer them together. This helps put the ease in greater liver health.