A systematic review of the efficacy and safety of herbal medicines used in the treatment of obesity

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.