Over the years, smoking and alcohol culture have become indispensable items on Chinese dinner tables. However, people often neglect the fact that long-term smoking and drinking can put a tremendous burden on the liver. Harmful substances like nicotine and tar in tobacco can damage liver cells, affecting liver metabolism and detoxification functions. Alcohol can also disrupt the normal structure of liver cells and, in severe cases, lead to health problems such as fatty liver and cirrhosis.
As the Chinese people's awareness and demand for health continue to rise, liver-protecting products are gaining popularity in the health market. As a natural liver-protecting ingredient, the demand for milk thistle seed oil has been continuously increasing in recent years.
Why has Milk Thistle Seed Oil suddenly become popular? What are its health benefits?
You May Know About Milk Thistle Seed Oil
The milk thistle, a herbaceous plant in the Asteraceae family, is native to the Mediterranean coast. As early as the 4th century BC, it was used as a folk medicine for treating liver damage in Europe. In 1952, the Beijing Botanical Garden introduced milk thistle from the UK for ornamental cultivation, and it has since been widely grown in China.
Milk thistle seed oil is a edible oil extracted and refined from milk thistle seeds, and it possesses significant physiological benefits.
- Antioxidant Properties
Milk thistle seed oil is rich in flavonoids, vitamin E, and phytosterols, all of which possess strong antioxidant properties. Animal studies by Zhu Shuyun have shown that milk thistle seed oil significantly increases the activity of superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase in mouse serum, as well as the total antioxidant capacity, which helps protect the integrity of liver cells in mice. Compared to olive oil, milk thistle seed oil also exhibits superior in vitro antioxidant performance. Additionally, animal experiments indicate that milk thistle seed oil can enhance the resistance of nematodes to oxidative damage to a certain extent.
- Liver Protection
The flavonoid substance silymarin in milk thistle seed oil has been widely applied as a hepatoprotective ingredient for issues such as cirrhosis, hepatitis, and toxic liver damage. Its main mechanisms of action include antioxidation, antifibrosis, maintenance of cell membrane stability, and promotion of liver cell regeneration.
- Prevention of Hypertension and Hyperlipidemia
Research has shown that milk thistle seed oil contains a high content of unsaturated fatty acids, reaching up to 70-80%, with linoleic acid as the main component at 48%. Unsaturated fatty acids can promote the oxidation of cholesterol in the intestines, increase the elasticity of microvessels, and inhibit the formation of blood clots.
The non-saponifiable content in milk thistle seed oil is 2.7%, mainly consisting of β-sitosterol. β-sitosterol helps lower blood lipids and prevent atherosclerosis, to a certain extent inhibiting the absorption of cholesterol in the intestines. Additionally, milk thistle seed oil also offers benefits such as anti-radiation, anti-aging, and delaying skin aging, making it widely used in the cosmetics industry.
HSF Biotech Launched a New Product - Milk Thistle Seed Oil Powder
In order to fully utilize the "natural plant power," HSF Biotech's VegeLipi™ Milk Thistle Seed Oil Powder employs supercritical carbon dioxide extraction combined with molecular distillation technology, which preserves the nutritional components completely while avoiding the use of any chemical solvents. The unsaturated fatty acids in Milk Thistle Seed Oil Powder are prone to oxidation due to external environmental factors during later-stage processing, storage, and transportation, leading to acid deterioration and a short storage period, with limited application scope.
In response to the diverse market demand, HSF Biotech has resolved the issues of poor stability and susceptibility to oxidation in practical applications of Milk Thistle Seed Oil Powder through its independently developed functional microencapsulation patent technology. This has expanded the product's application scope, allowing it to be used in powdered, pressed tablet, and hard capsule forms, marking a significant upgrade in Milk Thistle Seed Oil Powder products.
After years of technical research and development, HSF Biotech has developed a systematic solution for the application challenges of functional food ingredients. For functional oil materials, natural high-molecular-weight materials are used to encapsulate oil materials into a water-in-oil (W/O) structure of microcapsules. Based on the chemical and physical properties of different functional substances as well as customized requirements from clients, HSF Biotech has researched and identified suitable wall materials and linking agents, achieving scientific encapsulation of functional substances to significantly improve taste, mask odors, increase oxidative stability, enhance mechanical compressive strength, accelerate dissolution, precisely control sustained release, achieve targeted release, and facilitate efficient targeted absorption.
For functional powder materials, HSF Biotech studies the synergistic relationships between raw materials and precisely matches various functional raw materials. Depending on the physical state of the raw materials, suitable binders and excipients are selected, and multi-dimensional granulation technology is employed to accurately control the particle size distribution of the raw materials. The chemical and physical properties of coating film materials are researched, and optimal thin film coating parameters and mode settings are adopted to achieve a perfect fit between raw material particles and the coating film, thereby achieving effective encapsulation.
As a high-tech biotechnology enterprise that thrives on research and innovation, HSF Biotech has integrated and optimized oil refining technology, molecular distillation technology, functional factor microencapsulation technology, microbial fermentation technology, and efficient separation and purification technology. In the future, HSF Biotech will continue to take customer needs and market demands as its responsibility, providing systematic product solutions for customers in the global nutrition and health field.
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