Beneficial effects of plant sources on the treatment of osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis causes bone loss, and makes bone to susceptible to fracture. The main cause of osteoporosis is estrogen deficiency. Estrogen, calcitonin, calcium, vitamin D and antioxidants can be used to prevent osteoporosis. For the treatment of osteoporosis, the potential biological activities of traditional medicines have been subjected to scientific evaluation, since synthetic drugs are considered to have several side effects and they lack efficacy. Therefore, more extensive research should be carried out to investigate the medicinal plants to be used as an alternative treatment for osteoporosis. The present review focuses on the scientific researches on the assessment of anti-osteoporotic activity of medicinal plants.