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Review
. 2023 Aug 5;14(1):1-18.
doi: 10.1016/j.jtcme.2023.08.001. eCollection 2024 Jan.

Plant-derived natural medicines for the management of osteoporosis: A comprehensive review of clinical trials

Seyedeh Mahnaz Karimi  1 , Mohammad Bayat  2 , Roja Rahimi  1
Affiliations
Review

Plant-derived natural medicines for the management of osteoporosis: A comprehensive review of clinical trials

Seyedeh Mahnaz Karimi et al. J Tradit Complement Med. .

Abstract

Background: Osteoporosis is a chronic and systemic skeletal disease that is defined by low bone mineral density (BMD) along with an increase in bone fragility and susceptibility to fracture. This study aimed to overview clinical evidence on the use of herbal medicine for management of osteoporosis.

Methods: Electronic databases including Pubmed, Medline, Cochrane library, and Scopus were searched until November 2022 for any clinical studies on the efficacy and/or safety of plant-derived medicines in the management of osteoporosis.

Results: The search yielded 57 results: 19 on single herbs, 16 on multi-component herbal preparations, and 22 on plant-derived secondary metabolites. Risk of fracture, bone alkaline phosphatase, BMD, and specific bone biomarkers are investigated outcomes in these studies. Medicinal plants including Acanthopanax senticosus, Actaea racemosa, Allium cepa, Asparagus racemosus, Camellia sinensis, Cissus quadrangularis, Cornus mas, Nigella sativa, Olea europaea, Opuntia ficus-indica, Pinus pinaster, Trifolium pretense and phytochemicals including isoflavones, ginsenoside, Epimedium prenyl flavonoids, tocotrienols are among plant-derived medicines clinically investigated on osteoporosis. It seems that multi-component herbal preparations were more effective than single-component ones; because of the synergistic effects of their constituents. The investigated herbal medicines demonstrated their promising results in osteoporosis via targeting different pathways in bone metabolism, including balancing osteoblasts and osteoclasts, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, antioxidant, and estrogen-like functions.

Conclusion: It seems that plant-derived medicines have beneficial effects on bone and may manage osteoporosis by affecting different targets and pathways involved in osteoporosis; However, Future studies are needed to confirm the effectiveness and safety of these preparations.

Keywords: Bone; Medicinal plant; Osteoblast; Osteoclast; Phytochemical.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors confirm that this article content has no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Image 1
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow diagram of study selection process.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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