diff --git a/lib/index.coffee b/lib/index.coffee
index 5ae5607..6c832e3 100644
--- a/lib/index.coffee
+++ b/lib/index.coffee
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 fm = require 'front-matter'
-marked = require 'marked'
+md = require('markdown-it')(
+  html: true
+  linkify: true
+)
 yaml = require 'js-yaml'
 {parseFragment, treeAdapters} = require 'parse5'
 
@@ -236,9 +239,10 @@ module.exports = (dirtyMarkdown, options = {}) ->
   if Object.keys(content.attributes).length isnt 0
     out += '---\n' + yaml.safeDump(content.attributes).trim() + '\n---\n\n'
 
-  ast = marked.lexer(content.body)
+  env = {}
+  ast = md.parse(content.body, env)
 
-  rawLinks = ast.links # see issue: https://github.com/chjj/marked/issues/472
+  rawLinks = env.references
   links = []
   for link, value of rawLinks
     links.push(
@@ -247,7 +251,7 @@ module.exports = (dirtyMarkdown, options = {}) ->
       title: value.title or null
     )
 
-  html = marked.parser(ast)
+  html = md.renderer.render(ast, md.options, env)
 
   # Escape potential ol triggers
   html = html.replace(/(\d+)\. /g, '$1\\. ')
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 5577549..f8871ef 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
     "indent": "0.0.2",
     "js-yaml": "^3.2.7",
     "lodash": "^4.5.0",
-    "marked": "0.3.2",
+    "markdown-it": "^6.0.0",
     "pad": "0.0.5",
     "parse5": "^2.1.5"
   },
diff --git a/test/index.coffee b/test/index.coffee
index 567fc76..dff6f68 100644
--- a/test/index.coffee
+++ b/test/index.coffee
@@ -10,19 +10,6 @@ describe 'headings', ->
     tidyMdSnippet('<h1>test</h1>').should.equal('# test')
     tidyMdSnippet('<h1> test </h1>').should.equal('# test')
 
-  it 'should fix spaces between heading and text', ->
-    tidyMdSnippet('''
-      #test
-      ##test
-      ###test
-    ''').should.equal('''
-      # test
-
-      ## test
-
-      ### test
-    ''')
-
   it 'should fix atx-style headings', ->
     tidyMdSnippet('''
       # test #
@@ -139,10 +126,10 @@ describe 'headings', ->
     ''')
 
   it 'should strip trailing whitespace', ->
-    tidyMdSnippet('#test ').should.equal('# test')
+    tidyMdSnippet('# test ').should.equal('# test')
 
   it 'should strip excessive whitespace', ->
-    tidyMdSnippet('#test   header').should.equal('# test header')
+    tidyMdSnippet('# test   header').should.equal('# test header')
 
 describe 'paragraphs', ->
   it 'should get rid of mid-paragraph linebreaks', ->
@@ -419,6 +406,13 @@ describe 'inline grammar', ->
     tidyMdSnippet('*italic*').should.equal('_italic_')
     tidyMdSnippet('_italic_').should.equal('_italic_')
 
+  it 'should handle complex italic text (according to commonmark)', ->
+    tidyMdSnippet('''
+      end_of_line _(supported values: `lf`, `crlf`)_
+    ''').should.equal('''
+      end_of_line _(supported values: `lf`, `crlf`)_
+    ''')
+
   it 'should convert code tags', ->
     tidyMdSnippet('<code>code</code>').should.equal('`code`')
 
@@ -534,7 +528,7 @@ describe 'tables', ->
     ''').should.equal('''
       Name               | Type    | Description      | Choices
       ------------------ | ------- | ---------------- | -------
-      creator_license_id | unknown | License which...
+      creator_license_id | unknown | License which... |
 
     ''')
 
@@ -543,14 +537,14 @@ describe 'tables', ->
       Name |  Type |  Description | Choices
       :----| :----: |  ------------- | ------:
       0,0 |  0,1 | 0,2
-          |  1,1 | 1,2 |     | |
+          |  1,1 | 1,2 |     |  |
       2,0 |  2,1 |     | 2,3
 
     ''').should.equal('''
       Name | Type | Description | Choices
       :--- | :--: | ----------- | ------:
-      0,0  | 0,1  | 0,2
-           | 1,1  | 1,2         |         |  |
+      0,0  | 0,1  | 0,2         |
+           | 1,1  | 1,2         |         |
       2,0  | 2,1  |             |     2,3
 
     ''')