Hello,
I just came across this article that talks about the benefits of bile supplements. I have never before heard of bile supplements, has anyone tried them? and what were the results?
Prescription bile supplements include Urso (UDCA) and obeticholic acid (OCA). UDCA and OCA have been shown to improve the outcome of those with PBC, while their benefits for PSC are more limited to symptom management.
Many of the references in the linked article are legit studies, but the information provided in the article itself is not reliable. The article conflates PBC and PSC (“Primary biliary cirrhosis (also known as primary sclerosing cholangitis)”) and, as noted above, this is a significant distinction in this area. This article is trying to sell you ox bile. I’d be reluctant to mess with the bile salt pool because even the experts don’t really know how to make this work in our favor and it is easy to screw up (see high-dose Urso trials). For a variety of reasons it would be a bad idea to go down this route. If you are interested in bile supplements, ask your doctor about Urso or OCA.
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Hi ,
Thanks for the response and the clarification. And yes I also thought it was weird that the article made PBC and PSC sound like the same thing.