Every year hundreds of people eat bad mushrooms. By bad, we mean mushrooms that can make you deathly ill and potentially require a liver transplant. However, a doctor in Santa Cruz, California may be very close to applying for FDA approval for a treatment that eliminates the need for a liver transplant and can save lives every year.
Folk Remedy to the Rescue
Milk thistle extract has been approved for treatment of poisonous mushroom consumption for many years in Europe. Milk thistle seeds have been used in folk remedies for hundreds of years as a method to treat people who have eaten poisonous foods. It stops damage to the liver and prevents the need for a liver transplant.
In 2007, Dr. Todd Mitchell was called on to treat a family who had eaten tacos made with poisonous death cap mushrooms, which had been picked outside a park in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Although the milk thistle extract was not readily available in the United States, he received permission for an emergency shipment to be sent to him to treat the family. The treatment was so successful that Mitchell began studying the effectiveness of the folk remedy. In his study, he has found that the extract is 90 percent effective in stopping liver damage due to death cap mushroom consumption.
The death cap is said to be one of the most delicious mushrooms you can eat, but the enjoyment may be short lived if the price is damage to your liver and possibly death. If you must eat mushrooms, try a good portobello or morel from your local organic grocery store. You’ll live longer and you won’t need to call on Dr. Mitchell’s miracle milk thistle cure.
– The Alternative Daily
