Herbal Medicines for Treating Metabolic Syndrome: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

Abstract

Objective. The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of herbal medicines in the management of metabolic syndrome. Materials and Methods. On December 9, 2015, we searched PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, SCOPUS, AMED, CNKI, KoreaMed, KMBASE, OASIS, and J-STAGE with no restriction on language or published year. We selected randomized controlled trials that involved patients with metabolic syndrome being treated with herbal medicines as intervention. The main keywords were “Chinese herbal medicines”, “metabolic syndrome”, and “randomized controlled trials”. Herbal substances which were not based on East Asian medical theory, combination therapy with western medicines, and concurrent diseases other than metabolic syndrome were excluded. The risk of bias was assessed by Cochrane's “Risk of Bias” tool. The protocol or review was registered in PROSPERO (an international prospective register of systematic reviews) (CRD42014006842). Results. From 1,098 articles, 12 RCTs were included in this review: five trials studied herbal medicines versus a placebo or no treatment, and seven trials studied herbal medicines versus western medicines. Herbal medicines were effective on decreasing waist circumference, blood glucose, blood lipids, and blood pressure. Conclusion. This study suggests the possibility that herbal medicines can be complementary and alternative medicines for metabolic syndrome.

Effect of high-fructose diet-induced metabolic syndrome on the pituitary-gonadal axis from adolescence through adulthood in male albino rats and the possible protective role of ginger extract. A biochemical, histological and immunohistochemical study

“…Herbal medicines have proven therapeutic effects on regulating blood glucose, lipid profile, and blood pressure. This means herbal medicines have the potential to be alternative or complementary medicines for MetS [34].…”

Effects of cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) essential oil supplementation on metabolic syndrome components: A randomized, triple‐blind, placebo‐controlled clinical trial

“…Recently, more attention has been paid to herbal medicines to treat metabolic disorders because of their fewer adverse side effects, lower costs, and high efficacy (Jang et al, ). Cuminum cyminum L. belongs to the family of Apiaceae, which has been used for treatment of several diseases such as digestive and metabolic disorders (Srinivasan, ).…”

“…Recently, more attention has been paid to herbal medicines to treat metabolic disorders because of their fewer adverse side effects, lower costs, and high efficacy (Jang et al, 2016). Cuminum cyminum L.…”

Inhibitory effect of black tea ( Camellia sinensis ) theaflavins and thearubigins against HCT 116 colon cancer cells and HT 460 lung cancer cells

“…Poor dietary habits and desk‐bound lifestyle cause various diseases such as cancer insurgence, cardiovascular complications, diabetes, and immune dysfunctions (Bárta et al, ). No doubt, medicines are inevitable for curing various physiological disorders nevertheless, high treatment cost in the developing countries along with associated side effects demand some other rationale approaches to meet the perils (Imran, Arshad et al, ; Jang et al, ; Mantel‐Teeuwisse et al, ). Phytochemicals have the ability to reduce these threats by preventing lipid peroxidation, and thus combat oxidative injury (Seifried, Anderson, Fisher, & Milner, ).…”