The Effects of Herbal Medicines on Women Sexual Dysfunction: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Sexual health plays an important role in women's health and quality of life. Sexual health management is a prerequisite for physical and psychological health of women. Sexual desire, arousal, and orgasm are three factors of female sexual response. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed at the evaluation of the studies focusing on herbal medicine on women's sexual function and the assessment of its effectiveness. METHODS: So far, many different methods have been known for the treatment of female sexual dysfunction, however, none of them are not efficacious therapy. RESULTS: Generally, the use of herbal medicine is a safe and effective therapeutic method in the treatment of women with sexual dysfunction. CONCLUSION: The role of herbal and nutritional supplementation in female sexual function has attracted researchers' interest in recent years.

Effects of a food product (based on Daucus carota) and education based on traditional Persian medicine on female sexual dysfunction: a randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Globally, female sexual dysfunction is a serious concern based on negative family and social consequences, high side effects of medications and lack of effective treatment. Thus, the evaluation of treatment approach for this problem is an important priority for healthcare systems. Sexual life and its related disorders are considered the main aspects of a healthy lifestyle in traditional Persian medicine (TPM). OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to determine and compare the effects of food products containing Daucus carota, TPM-based training program, and a combination of these two interventions on the improvement of female sexual dysfunction. METHODS: This randomized clinical trial was conducted on 96 women with sexual dysfunction based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5®), aged 18-35 years who referred to the Gynecology Clinic of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran, during 2016 and 2017. The patients were randomly divided into three groups (n=32) and received the intervention over an eight-week period. The first group was provided with TPM-based sexual health training, the second group received 30 g of a traditional food product (wild carrot halva: mixed Daucus carota and several herbs with honey) on a daily basis, and the third group received a combination of this traditional food product plus education. Data analysis was performed using Chi square test, repeated measures ANOVA, two-way ANOVA, ANCOVA, post hoc Bonferroni, Friedman and Wilcoxon signed-rank test in SPSS version 11.5. RESULTS: According to the results of this study, there was a significant difference in terms of sexual desire (p=0.002), lubrication (p=0.002), orgasm (p=0.004) and pain (p<0.001) after eight weeks of the intervention among the three groups. CONCLUSION: The use of two interventions of TPM including a food product containing Daucus carota and this product with TPM-based education improved desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction and pain in females with sexual dysfunction. Furthermore, TPM-based education alone, led to the improvement of all domains of sexual dysfunction, except for pain in the females with sexual dysfunction. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial was registered at the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials with the IRCT ID: IRCT2015122425681N1). FUNDING: The present study was supported by a grant from the Research Council, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran (ref. no.: 941503).

Effect of diet on blood viscosity in healthy humans: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Increased whole blood viscosity is associated with increased risk of morbidity and mortality of several life-threatening diseases, including cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. The effect of diet on human health has been indicated in many studies, and a health dietary pattern can reduce the incidence of several chronic diseases. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this systematic review was to assess the effect of diet on blood viscosity and related parameters such as haematocrit (HCT). METHODS: This systematic review was carried out in 2017. MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched from inception to 2 May 2017. We selected and included randomized clinical trials (RCTs) in the study. The inclusion criteria were articles that describe the effect of any types of local and traditional diet on blood viscosity in apparently healthy individuals. RESULTS: Three randomized controlled trials were included in this systematic review. Different diets were used in the included trials. In one study, ingested dried-bonito broth (DBB) for four weeks, significantly reduced the blood passage time in the intervention group from 55.4±3.4 to 47.6±2.0 sec (mean ± SEM, p<0.05) compared with no significant change in the placebo group. Another study has shown significantly increased blood fluidity score in a vegetarian group in contrast to the control group after six weeks. In the last study, plasma viscosity was significantly decreased in a group which used onion-olive-oil capsules compared to the placebo group, with a highly significant difference between the two groups (p=0.0015). CONCLUSIONS: Our components of food diets may decrease blood viscosity in health status. Better and expanded methodology may improve our results.