next »

[Lilian]

Hi friends,

I was working part time in a pharmacy a few years back, and i came across this supplement called Essentiale Forte, manufactured by Aventis Pharma. Based on customer feedback, i heard it's really effective for maintaining liver health, esp for those with liver disease like Hep C, cirrhosis (sp??) and such.

I am thinking of taking it. i'm currently on milk thistle and dandelion. I've no opinion as to how good milk thistle and dandelion is tho 

Have any of you tried Essentiale, or have any opinion/feedback on it?

here's more info on it http://www.drugs-pro.com/liver-disease/essentiale%20forte.html

Thanks guys

cheers,
lilian

[Andy]

Lillian,

This is very interesting. Essential Forte is an all natural product and apparently has properties that help rebuild tissue.

from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2483823

[Effects of essentiale forte on biosynthesis of nucleic acids and several hemodynamic parameters of the damaged myocardium in rabbits]
[Article in Russian]

Karagezian KG, Engibarian AA, Varosian MA.

Normalization of heart muscle phospholipid metabolism and reactivation of the activity of membrane-bound enzymes participating in the reactions of biosynthesis of nucleic acids have been studied. These investigations were carried out under the conditions of experimental myocardial infarction. The effects of essential forte have been examined when it was combined with both a tocopherol, and sodium nucleinate. It was pointed out that essential forte using without other reagents leads to the depression of nucleic acids biosynthesis in affected heart muscle, while the combinations of it with a-tocopherol, and especially with sodium nucleinate are accompanied by the significant intensification of reactions of formation of desoxynucleic and ribonucleic acids biosynthesis in necrotic areas as well as in peripheral regions of affected myocardial tissue. These positive changes are accompanied also by the pronounced normalization of haemodynamic activity of infarcted myocardium.

Basically, this is talking about repairing dead tissue in the heart. This also may be of great interest to thalassemics whose hearts do sustain damage in general from both iron and repeated transfusions.

As far as the liver, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8069893

BACKGROUND. Steatosis of the liver is the most frequent diffuse liver disease and its detection increased markedly due to ultrasonography. The presence of lipid particles in hepatocytes alters the ultrastructure of cellular membranes. The damaged cell is unable to meet adequately the energy requirements of phospholipid synthesis, the latter being the basic component of cellular and subcellular membranes. Substitution of "essential" phospholipids plays an important role in their regeneration...The authors provided evidence than in 53.6 % of patients the effect of six-month treatment with Essentiale forte was very good (improvement of all investigated parameters), partial in 42.9 % (improvement of laboratory findings and subjective complaints) ad not quite satisfactory in 3.6 % (only improvement of subjective feelings).

As you can see, over 96% of patients using it experienced improvement.  Steatosis of the liver is called fatty liver and is common in hepatitis patients. Based on the findings of these studies, I would highly recommend this for patients with liver damage from hepatitis or iron. Milk thistle and dandelion are both liver purifiers that have helped many hepatitis patients. There should be no problem taking  Essential Forte with both.

[Kronprinz_adam]

Hi everyone!!!
My doctor gave me Essential Forte when I was 18, after suffering from Hepatitis A. I took this medicine for several months...

There is one similar medicine, "Principal Forte" from Donovan Werke. I'm triying this one at the moment. Some other people try instead milk thistle (Silybum marianum).

I got 25 pounds extra weight and some strange symptoms: I was tired all the time and had some pain at the legs and knees. I was feeling very odd and I went to the doctor.

My doctor said I had farry liver and high levels of "ferritine", which is a protein which shows the levels of iron stored on the body. He suspected I had some kind of hemochromatosis. In other works, the body absorbs too much iron and stores it in several organs.

 

[Kronprinz_adam]

I got scared, but my doc could not find some conclusive result from an hereditary hemochromatosis. But I suspect some trouble with my liver. I never realized that liver was really important, and that we damage it with alcohol, fat and unhealthy food.

I would like to know if a liver problem produces some changes on the mood of people. I was studying abroad and had little time to cook and I was eating lots of frozen food, pork and chips, and ocasionally some beer. I think this was no good for the body and later on I started to have symptoms: I felt weak, sleepy and with some pain at the legs, knees and feet, with mood changes (unusually angry or demotivated), this was very strange and I did blood tests. I suspect I damaged my liver eating the wrong stuff. Can someone give me more advices to protect my liver?

Greetings.
K. Adam

[Andy]

Hi K Adam,

Did your doctor tell you how high your ferritin level is? Your iron level is very important and too much iron stored in the body can cause organ damage. It is extremely bad for the liver. If our ferritin is quite high, you should have the level investigated with a liver scan to determine the actual iron content of your liver. If you have been absorbing too much iron from your diet, as with hemochromatosis, your liver could incur serious long term damage. If your ferritin indicates the possibility of high organ iron, you should definitely get a scan to measure your liver iron.

Your diet has not been good and it has been high in iron. Eating more fruits and vegetables, especially raw, will help clean your liver and provide the necessary nutrients. Try to eat less fast food and more nutritious meals at home. We have much nutritional information and advice in our forum titled, Diet, Nutrition and Supplements.

Milk thistle will help your liver and can be taken with other liver cleansers, like Essential Forte. Milk thistle can help restore liver tissue and many people with damaged livers have benefited from using it.