Cleanse with the seasons.

The plants in the box

What the research on each one measured.

Milk thistle. Meta-analyses of trials in people with fatty liver found silymarin associated with lower liver enzymes than placebo,^2,3,4 and one systematic review found about two thirds of studies saw that drop.⁵ In a 180-day double-blind trial, a silymarin blend also improved sleep and quality of life.¹

Dandelion and yellow dock. In a 12-week trial in people with fatty liver, dandelion capsules lowered liver fibrosis and ALT and AST.¹³Over 90 days, a daily blend of milk thistle, turmeric, dandelion and ginger lowered ALT, AST and GGT against placebo,¹⁴ and an Ayurvedic blend of the same herbs improved fatty-liver grading.¹⁵ In Indonesia, a traditional jamu formula of turmeric and dandelion matched schisandra in lowering liver enzymes.¹⁶ Yellow dock is one of the bitter roots of the old spring tonics, and in Pakistan it still ranks first by use value among the wild plants people use for health care.²⁵

Reishi. Chinese medicine has used reishi, lingzhi, for the liver for some two thousand years. In a six-month double-blind trial in 42 adults, it lowered liver enzymes and moved mild fatty liver back toward normal on ultrasound.³⁷ A meta-analysis of 13 human trials found lower ALT,³⁸ and in patients with liver injury from mushroom poisoning, reishi was linked to shorter hospital stays.³⁹ Its triterpenes protect liver cells against toxic injury as well.^41,42

Turmeric. Umbrella and standard meta-analyses of randomized trials in fatty liver⁵¹ found curcumin or turmeric lowered ALT and AST.^49,50

Olive oil, bile and magnesium. Dietary fat is the body's signal to release bile,^61,62 which is why the final night uses olive oil. Low magnesium tracks with liver disease progression,^67,68and the kit carries magnesium twice.

Nothing fancy

Simple ingredients that most people are missing.

The kit lines up with the nutrients most people run short of: potassium, magnesium, full-spectrum vitamin E, vitamin C, iodine and selenium. Standard labs do not measure them well. A thyroid panel never measures iodine. Blood magnesium and potassium read the blood, not the cell, where nearly all of both live.

The numbers are not close. In national survey data, 84% of US adults fell below the average requirement for vitamin E and 46% for vitamin C.¹⁵¹ Median urinary iodine in US women of childbearing age fell from 135 to 103.5 over two decades,^155,156 and nearly half of pregnant women sat below the requirement even with supplements.¹⁵⁴Low selenium¹⁵³ and low urinary potassium¹⁵² each tracked with higher mortality in cohort data.

The kit carries magnesium twice, as ozonated magnesium oxide and as Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate). The rest of the shortfall list is in the companions below.