Antiinflammatory and Hepatoprotective Medicinal Herbs as Potential Substitutes for Bear Bile

Combining data from consumers and traditional medicine practitioners to provide a more complete picture of Chinese bear bile markets

“…Practitioner views are also key to understanding the potential success of alternative products that aim to reduce wild bile use (e.g. Appiah et al, 2017). For example, some of the practitioners we surveyed highlighted the better food and environment of wild-living bears as a reason why wild bear bile is better (Table 2).…”

“…Our study focusses on bear bile, a TCM ingredient recorded in the first Chinese pharmacopeia in 649 A.D (Feng et al, 2009). Bear bile contains Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), an ingredient with proven 'Western' biomedical efficacy for treating liver and gallbladder diseases as well as a variety of other ailments (Appiah et al, 2017;Vang et al, 2014). In TCM, bear bile is a cold medicine, used for clearing liver fire and heat (Cheung et al, 2021).…”

Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus)

“…More recently it has been shown to prevent retinal degeneration (Boatright et al 2006), protect against Type I diabetes (Engin et al 2013), and to have therapeutic effects for a number of neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington's disease (Vang et al 2014). A number of herbal alternatives to bear bile exist in the Chinese pharmacopeia, and are often prescribed by TM practitioners in combination with bear bile, and could be viable substitutes for bear bile (Appiah et al 2017).…”

Hepatotoxicity of Herbal Supplements Mediated by Modulation of Cytochrome P450

“…Geniposide is an iridoid glycoside found in the Gardenia jasminoides fruit. The fruit is used as a food coloring, an anti-inflammatory, an antithrombotic, and as an antidepressive [ 88 , 89 , 90 ]. Rats treated with geniposide or the crude extract of G .…”