Your Health is Our #1 Priority
August 2008 | Year 9: Issue 8  

Newsletter Home > Organic Spotlight: Organic Dandelion Leaf

Organic Dandelion Leaf

Taraxacum officinale is the scientific name for Dandelion Leaf. It's a very beneficial plant for the gallbladder and the liver, even though many of us think of weeds when we think about dandelions. Did you know that some people even eat dandelion leaf, both cooked and raw? It's true.

Health Benefits of Organic Dandelion Leaf

Let's look at some of the health benefits of organic dandelion leaf and you'll begin to understand why it's used in so many different ways.

Much of the beneficial properties of organic dandelion leaf work to cleanse the blood and promote efficient digestion. Overall, it relieves much of the filtering burden that rests with the liver.

  • Promotes healthy efficient digestive functioning, even has a mild laxative property. It contains inulin, a sugar that can improve the growth of good intestinal bacteria which fights off bad bacteria
  • Offers protection from liver damage
  • Used to cleanse the liver, sometimes after drinking or eating unhealthy food or drinks
  • Promotes the excretion of liver bile: it can stimulate a sluggish gallbladder which is where your liver bile is stored and secreted from
  • Can actually clean the blood of impurities including flushing medications from the bloodstream faster than is normal
  • Helps the body with fat metabolizing, improving cholesterol levels
  • It's a diuretic which means it helps the body to purge toxins by stimulating the urinary function
  • Helps to maintain blood glucose levels
  • Has vitamins A, B, C and D
  • Has luteolin (an antioxidant)

Interactions between Organic Dandelion Leaf and Medications

Organic dandelion leaf has such powerful actions in the blood, until you need to be aware of any possible contraindications with your medications.

  • If you are prone to allergies, you may want to check with your healthcare practitioner to determine if you might have an allergy to dandelion leaf
  • If your endocrine system is impaired, exercise caution when taking dandelion leaf because of its diuretic property.
  • Dandelion leaf can interfere with quinolones (antibiotics) absorption
  • If you're taking bipolar medications like Lithium, dandelion leaf can intensify side effects

Conclusion

You can see why people are making use of organic dandelion leaf in so many ways. Its amazing properties are the reason it's in Livatrex™, which helps to promote liver detoxification and cleansing. And, we're not the only people paying attention to the usefulness of dandelion leaf. While many still consider dandelion leaf a beneficial herb, in Canada dandelion root is actually registered for use as a drug.

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