Journal
PHYTOTHERAPY RESEARCH
Volume 37, Issue 7, Pages 3083-3096Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/ptr.7816
Keywords
cirrhosis; curcumin; ginseng; medicinal plants; silymarin; systematic review
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This systematic review aimed to determine the effectiveness of herbal medicines on cirrhosis. Eleven clinical trials were included, and the results showed that medicinal plants including silymarin, curcumin, and ginseng have beneficial effects on cirrhosis. However, further high-quality studies are warranted due to the limited number of studies.
Medicinal plants with minimal side effects, low cost, and liver-protective effects can be a suitable treatment option for cirrhosis. Therefore, this systematic review aimed to determine the effectiveness of herbal medicines on cirrhosis, a life-threatening liver disease. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were systematically searched for clinical trials that investigated the effect of medicinal plants on cirrhosis. This review includes 11 clinical trials, of which eight studies including 613 patients assessed the effect of silymarin on cirrhosis. Three of six studies showed the beneficial effects of silymarin on aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT). Two studies including 118 patients investigated the effect of curcumin on cirrhosis, one showing improvement in quality of life and the other showing improvements in alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bilirubin, prothrombin time (PT), and the international normalized ratio (INR). An article including four patients investigated the effect of ginseng on cirrhosis; two patients reported improvement in the Child-Pugh score, and ascites decreased in two. All studies included here reported no or negligible side effects. Results showed that medicinal plants including silymarin, curcumin, and ginseng have beneficial effects on cirrhosis. However, due to the limited number of studies, further high-quality studies are warranted.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available