Milk Thistle during a cycle : avoid it for better gains !

You already (should) know it, milk thistle is the standard ingredient used in liver support supplements.

Therefore, it has always been said to users of prohormones (and all oral steroids as well) to use milk thistle before, during and after a cycle.

According to a 2001 Study (the full pdf study is here), silymarin aka milk thistle inhibits the function of androgen receptor.

Milk Thistle is bad for androgen receptor but is it really bad for your gains ?

The short answer is yes ! However, we want to clarify the situation because we always recommended to take Milk Thistle during a cycle of a (methylated) prohormone.

First, we can assume that silymarin has a negative impact on your gains since it appears to “block” androgen receptor. For your knowledge, anabolic steroids starts acting in your body because they bind to androgen receptor.

But what you need to know is that, it does not block the action of androgen receptor at 100% ! Indeed, we don’t know how much it blocks it. Let’s say, you do a cycle of MethylStenbolone and you increase your muscle mass by 15 lbs by not taking milk thistle during the cycle. Does it mean you would have put 12 pounds of muscle by taking milk thistle on cycle ?

We don’t know that for sure but it’s certainly not the case because many people uses milk thistle during cycles and gains are pretty good !

So should I take or not Milk Thistle during my cycle ?

If you really really want maximum gains, go ahead and do not take it during your cycle. You can however use it 2 weeks prior to your cycle (pre-load) and use it in the post cycle therapy. You can also take a liver protection on cycle that does not contain milk thistle like Tudca or the supplement Liv.52.

However, at NewProhormones.com, we still recommend to most users to take liver protections with milk thistle because we believe the “negative effects” on your gains are not really important. There is also a lack of studies. From there, you can do what you want but you all know about the subject.

Example of good Milk Thistle Supplements

Liver Assist XT by SNS (Serious Nutrition Solutions) is a very good and cheap liver support supplement. Designed with Milk Thistle and N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC), it’s a great formula + his price is very low which make a liver support supplement available to everyone :

Sources :
– Carcinogenesis vol.22 no.9 pp.1399-1403, 2001 (full pdf study link in the article)
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabolic_steroid