Hasani-Ranjbar Shirin, Nayebi Neda, Larijani Bagher, Abdollahi Mohammad
Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, and Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
World J Gastroenterol. 2009 Jul 7;15(25):3073-85. doi: 10.3748/wjg.15.3073.
This review focuses on the efficacy and safety of effective herbal medicines in the management of obesity in humans and animals. PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and IranMedex databases were searched up to December 30, 2008. The search terms were "obesity" and ("herbal medicine" or "plant", "plant medicinal" or "medicine traditional") without narrowing or limiting search elements. All of the human and animal studies on the effects of herbs with the key outcome of change in anthropometric measures such as body weight and waist-hip circumference, body fat, amount of food intake, and appetite were included. In vitro studies, reviews, and letters to editors were excluded. Of the publications identified in the initial database, 915 results were identified and reviewed, and a total of 77 studies were included (19 human and 58 animal studies). Studies with Cissus quadrangularis (CQ), Sambucus nigra, Asparagus officinalis, Garcinia atroviridis, ephedra and caffeine, Slimax (extract of several plants including Zingiber officinale and Bofutsushosan) showed a significant decrease in body weight. In 41 animal studies, significant weight loss or inhibition of weight gain was found. No significant adverse effects or mortality were observed except in studies with supplements containing ephedra, caffeine and Bofutsushosan. In conclusion, compounds containing ephedra, CQ, ginseng, bitter melon, and zingiber were found to be effective in the management of obesity. Attention to these natural compounds would open a new approach for novel therapeutic and more effective agents.
本综述聚焦于有效草药在人类和动物肥胖管理中的功效与安全性。截至2008年12月30日，对PubMed、Scopus、谷歌学术、科学网和伊朗医学数据库进行了检索。检索词为“肥胖”以及（“草药”或“植物”、“植物药”或“传统药物”），未对检索元素进行缩小或限制。纳入了所有关于草药作用的人体和动物研究，这些研究的关键结果是人体测量指标的变化，如体重、腰臀围、体脂、食物摄入量和食欲。体外研究、综述和给编辑的信件被排除。在初始数据库中识别出的出版物中，确定并审查了915项结果，共纳入77项研究（19项人体研究和58项动物研究）。对四棱豆（CQ）、黑接骨木、芦笋、藤黄、麻黄和咖啡因、Slimax（包括生姜和防己黄芪汤在内的几种植物提取物）的研究显示体重显著下降。在41项动物研究中，发现有显著的体重减轻或体重增加受到抑制。除了含有麻黄、咖啡因和防己黄芪汤的补充剂研究外，未观察到显著的不良反应或死亡。总之，发现含有麻黄、CQ、人参、苦瓜和生姜的化合物在肥胖管理中有效。关注这些天然化合物将为新型治疗和更有效的药物开辟一条新途径。
