Plant-Based Bioactive Molecules in Improving Health and Preventing Lifestyle Diseases.

The Special Issue, "Plant-Based Bioactive Molecules in Improving Health and Preventing Life-style Diseases", includes original research papers and reviews, which aim to increase knowledge of the molecular mechanisms underlying multiple biological effects of natural compounds from plants, responsible for maintaining human health and improving many diseases caused by people's daily lifestyles [...].

What motivates new, established and long-term users of herbal medicine: is there more than push and pull?

BACKGROUND: The use of herbal medicine (HM) has become an essential form of treatment and it is more and more common around the world. Little is known about the reasons that drive people to initially use HM or to maintain their behaviour, and whether the so-called "push and pull factors" known in the context of decision making for complementary and alternative medicine, also play a role for HM use. Here, our goal was to provide answers to these open questions and to analyse the reasons that motivate new, established and long-term HM consumers in detail. METHODS: Thirteen reasons for HM usage, which were previously identified within a qualitative approach, were analysed quantitatively in a nationwide online survey in Germany. Data of 2,192 German HM users from the general population were grouped into new, established and long-term users. We performed a factor analysis in order to identify factors underlying the set of reasons. RESULTS: We discovered a reliable factor associated with longstanding family traditions and cultural importance of HM in Germany. This finding shows that the reasons for HM use require a three-factor structure going beyond the well-known push and pull factors that explain the use of complementary and alternative medicine. In using the identified factors for further calculations, we were able to reveal important group differences and test how the factor scores perform as predictors for the new, established and long-term choice of HM. Our results showed that a high score on the push factor is associated more with initial HM usage, while long-term HM usage is impacted more by high scores on the pull and traditional factors. CONCLUSIONS: Our exploratory survey and analysis of the reasons that underlie HM usage aimed at providing a better understanding of the decision for this treatment form. The findings of our work deliver insights for medical practitioners and health-care providers, including the role of family traditions for HM usage and the finding that new HM users are driven to use this treatment form in part because of negative aspects they associate with conventional medicine.

Herbal medicines in the treatment of psychiatric disorders: 10-year updated review.

This paper provides a 10-year update of the 2007 systematic review of herbal medicines studied in a broad range of psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, seasonal affective, bipolar, psychotic, phobic, somatoform, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders. Ovid Medline, PubMed, and the Cochrane Library were searched for herbal medicines with both pharmacological and clinical evidence of psychotropic activity. This updated review now covers clinical trial evidence for 24 herbal medicines in 11 psychiatric disorders. High-quality evidence was found to exist for the use of Piper methysticum (Kava), Passiflora spp. (passionflower) and Galphimia glauca (galphimia) for anxiety disorders; and Hypericum perforatum (St John's wort) and Crocus sativus (saffron) for major depressive disorder. Other encouraging herbal medicines with preliminary evidence include Curcuma longa (turmeric) in depression, Withania somnifera (ashwagandha) in affective disorders, and Ginkgo biloba (ginkgo) as an adjunctive treatment in Schizophrenia. Although depression and anxiety are commonly researched, many other mental disorders still require further prospective investigation. Although the previous review suggested increasing the adjunctive study of select herbal medicines with pharmaceuticals, this was still only found to sparingly occur in research designs. Aside from this, future focus should involve the incorporation of more biomarker analysis, in particular pharmacogenomics, to determine genetic factors moderating response to herbal medicines.

Use of traditional herbal medicine as an alternative in dental treatment in Mexican dentistry: a review.

CONTEXT: Herbal therapies are used worldwide to treat health conditions. In Mexico, generations have used them to treat gingivitis, periodontitis, mouth infections, and discoloured teeth. However, few studies have collected scientific evidence on their effects. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed at searching and compiling scientific evidence of alternative oral and dental treatments using medicinal herbs from Mexico. METHODS: We collected various Mexican medicinal plants used in the dental treatment from the database of the Institute of Biology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. To correlate with existing scientific evidence, we used the PubMed database with the key term '(scientific name) and (oral or dental)'. RESULTS: Mexico has various medical herbs with antibacterial and antimicrobial properties, according to ancestral medicinal books and healers. Despite a paucity of experimental research demonstrating the antibacterial, antimicrobial, and antiplaque effects of these Mexican plants, they could still be useful as an alternative treatment of several periodontal diseases or as anticariogenic agents. However, the number of studies supporting their uses and effects remains insufficient. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: It is important for the health of consumers to scientifically demonstrate the real effects of natural medicine, as well as clarify and establish their possible therapeutic applications. Through this bibliographical revision, we found papers that testify or refute their ancestral uses, and conclude that the use of plants to treat oral conditions or to add to the dental pharmacological arsenal should be based on experimental studies verifying their suitability for dental treatments.

A Recipe for Improved Nonsurgical Cosmetic Outcomes: Know Your Herbs and Spices.

The nonsurgical cosmetic arena continues to grow, with more people consistently seeking minimally invasive procedures for facial rejuvenation. However, although these prospective patients are not seeking surgical correction to obtain their results, there is still the potential for nonsurgical procedures to yield adverse events posttreatment. Patients often do not realize that their dietary regimens may affect their nonsurgical cosmetic outcomes. For example, many patients desiring these types of treatments are often found to be taking prescription medications, herbs, and spices on a daily basis that may have the capacity to potentiate adverse outcomes such as bleeding and/or bruising. For these reasons, it is important for clinicians to be inclusive while taking health histories and to properly educate their patients so that administered treatments have the best chance of yielding the desired results. The focus of this article is to provide health care providers information on many of the herbs and spices that have the potential to negatively impact nonsurgical cosmetic outcomes.

The efficacy of herbal medicines against Toxoplasma gondii during the last 3 decades: a systematic review.

The objective of the current study was to systematically review papers discussing the efficacy of medicinal herbs against Toxoplasma gondii. Data were systematically collected from published papers about the efficacy of herbs used against T. gondii globally from 1988 to 2015, from PubMed, Google Scholar, ISI Web of Science, EBSCO, Science Direct, and Scopus. Forty-nine papers were included in the current systematic review reporting the evaluation of medicinal plants against T. gondii globally, both in vitro and in vivo. Sixty-one plants were evaluated. Most of the studies were carried out on Artemisia annua. The second highest number of studies were carried out on Glycyrrhiza glabra extracts. RH and ME49 were the predominant parasite strains used. Additionally, Swiss-Webster and BALB/c mice were the major animal models used. Alcoholic and aqueous extracts were used more than other types of extracts. Natural compounds mentioned here may be developed as novel and more effective therapeutic agents that improve the treatment of toxoplasmosis due to their lower side effects, higher availability, and better cultural acceptance compared with those of the chemical drugs that are currently being used.

Innovation in Phytotherapy: Is a New Regulation the Feasible Perspective in Europe?

Classical multicomponent preparations mostly derived from traditional usages in Western and Eastern phytotherapy have been under-evaluated for a long time as potential new pharmaceutical products. The regulatory scenario, in particular at the European level, has only recently considered these aspects proposing harmonized guidelines for the pharmaceutical registration of traditional herbal products. Nevertheless, a specific regulation for innovative products based on the combination of precious knowledge arising from traditional usages and modern scientific advancements is still missing. In this paper, we propose a critical review of the current situation with the specific aim of contributing to create a more favorable regulatory environment for the pharmaceutical registration of new and innovative herbal medicinal products.

[Complementary and alternative medicine in oncology]. / Komplementäre und Alternative Medizin in der Onkologie (I).

Complementary and alternative medicine are frequently used by cancer patients. The main benefit of complementary medicine is that it gives patients the chance to become active. Complementary therapy can reduce the side effects of conventional therapy. However, we have to give due consideration to side effects and interactions: the latter being able to reduce the effectiveness of cancer therapy and so to jeopardise the success of therapy. Therefore, complementary therapy should be managed by the oncologist. It is based on a common concept of cancerogenesis with conventional therapy. Complement therapy can be assessed in studies. Alternative medicine in contrast rejects common rules of evidence-based medicine. It starts from its own concepts of cancerogenesis, which is often in line with the thinking of lay persons. Alternative medicine is offered as either "alternative" to recommended cancer treatment or is used at the same time but without due regard for the interactions. Alternative medicine is a high risk to patients. In the following two parts of the article, the most important complementary and alternative therapies cancer patients use nowadays are presented and assessed according to published evidence.

Analysis of consumer demand for herbal medicine in the Republic of Armenia.

Herbal medicines nowadays tend to gain more and more popularity among health care providers and drugstore customers, as well. Current study has been an effort to explore the attitudes and customer behavior of drug consumers in Yerevan, Armenia. It is a cross-sectional descriptive study in nature an has no hypothesis set and does not claim to have produced statistically significant generalizable results. However, it is a valuable start point for further investigations with presumably quantitative statistical analysis methods. Some four districts of Yerevan out of twelve were randomly selected with subsequent random selection of proportionately adequate number of drugstores, where the interviewers approached every 4th customer with the request to answer the questionnaire that they had previously developed and tested in three randomly chosen non-target drugstores from one randomly chosen non-target district. Data were collected by filling paper forms followed by entry and processing using SPSS 11.0 for Windows. The results of the study demonstrate that some link exist between customers' appreciation of herbal drugs as safe and effective and their level of education. Another dimension discovered, was that university students appeared to be the most satisfied with the affordability of herbal medicines.

Subchronic toxicity of Sipjeondaebo-tang (SDT) in Sprague-Dawley rats.

Sipjeondaebo-tang (SDT, Juzen-taiho-to in Japanese), a traditional Korean herbal medicine, is used as a supplemental treatment for the adverse effects of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgical treatment. However, limited information is available about the long-term safety of SDT. Therefore, we evaluated the potential adverse effects of SDT in Sprague-Dawley rats over a period of 13-weeks. The SDT was administered once daily by gavage to male and female rats at dose levels of 0, 250, 500, 1000 and 2000 mg/kg/day for 13 weeks. The SDT treatment did not result in any toxicologically significant changes in mortality, clinical signs, body weights, food and water consumption, ophthalmoscopy, urinalysis, hematology, serum biochemistry, gross findings, organ weights, histopathology, estrus cycle, serum testosterone levels and sperm analysis. We concluded that the 13-week repeated oral administration of SDT did not cause any adverse effects in rats at dose levels of ≤ 2000 mg/kg/day. Under these experimental conditions, the no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) was more than 2000 mg/kg/day for both genders. Here, we demonstrated the safety of a 13-week repeated oral dose and considered that it is a safe herbal medicine for human consumption.

[Recent progress of international harmonization of crude drugs and medicinal plants--activity of FHH (The Western Pacific Regional Forum for the Harmonization of Herbal Medicines)].

The Western Pacific Regional Forum for the Harmonization of Herbal Medicines (FHH) was established in 2002. The general proposed objective of the FHH is to promote public health by recognizing and developing standards and technical guidelines that aim to improve the quality, safety and efficacy of herbal medicines. At a sub-committee meeting of FHH nomenclature and standardization held in Tokyo, all the participants recognized the importance of comparing the descriptions of herbal medicines contained in member countries' pharmacopoeias or monograph standards as the first step in the harmonization of nomenclature and standardization. It was agreed to set up five expert working groups (EWG) to carry out the following specific tasks: 1) Nomenclature, 2) Testing Methods in Monographs, 3) List of Chemical Reference Standards (CRS) and Reference of Medicinal Plant Materials (RMPM), 4) List of Analytically Validated Methods, and 5) Information on General Tests. In this review, we report four topics of FHH activities from 2002-2009 as follows: 1) Comparative study on testing methods and specification values for crude drugs used in monographs among four Western Pacific regional countries (Japan, China, Korea and Vietnam), 2) Comparative study on TLC conditions for identification, chemical assay conditions for component quantification used in monographs among the four countries, 3) Comparative study on general testing methods for crude drugs among the four countries, 4) Comparative study on TLC identification for crude drugs used in monographs among the four countries considering harmonization and clean analysis.

Can herbal medicinal products or preparations alleviate neuropathic pain in adults? A Cochrane Review summary with commentary.

BACKGROUND: Several medicines have been shown to be effective in treating neuropathic pain, but they can have damaging side effects, therefore people are now trying herbal products to help relieve pain. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the Cochrane Review was to evaluate whether herbal products/preparations have an analgesic effectiveness in neuropathic pain and whether any side effects are associated with their use. METHODS: The population addressed were adults aged ≥18 years, suffering from chronic neuropathic pain. Studies that investigated the effects of herbal products/preparations for the relief of neuropathic pain compared to any or no interventions were included. RESULTS: Included studies did not show that herbal products/preparations have reduced pain intensity of 30% or above and there was no observable reduction in the total pain score. CONCLUSIONS: There is insufficient evidence to suggest that herbal products/preparations have any efficacy in any neuropathic pain conditions. The current evidence is of very low quality resulting in serious uncertainties about the estimates of effect observed.

The use of complementary and alternative medicine among hypertensive and type 2 diabetic patients in Western Jamaica: A mixed methods study.

BACKGROUND: The simultaneous or intermittent use of alternative treatments and prescription medications for hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus can have adverse health effects. OBJECTIVES: To identify beliefs and practices associated with the use of alternative treatments for hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus among patients. METHODS: A mixed-methods study including an investigator-administered survey and focus group discussion sessions using convenience sampling was conducted among patients aged ≥18 years during May to August 2018. Descriptive statistics were used to describe and compare demographic characteristics among groups of survey participants using JMP Pro 14.0. Thematic analysis was conducted to analyze the qualitative data using NVivo. RESULTS: Most study participants (87-90%) were on prescription medication for their condition. Of survey participants, 69% reported taking their medication as prescribed and 70% felt that prescription medicine was controlling their condition. Almost all participants (98%) reported using alternative treatments, mainly herbal medications, and 73-80% felt that herbal medicines controlled their conditions. One-third believed that herbal medicines are the most effective form of treatment and should always be used instead of prescription medication. However, most participants (85%) did not believe that prescription and herbal treatments should be used simultaneously. Most (76-90%) did not discuss herbal treatments with their healthcare providers. Four themes emerged from the focus group sessions: 1) Simultaneous use of herbal and prescription medicine was perceived to be harmful, 2) Patients did not divulge their use of herbal medicine to healthcare providers, 3) Alternative medicines were perceived to be highly effective, and 4) Religiosity and family elders played key roles in herbal use. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides useful insights into perceptions and use of alternative treatments by patients that can be used by healthcare providers in developing appropriate interventions to encourage proper use of prescription medicines and alternative medicines resulting in improved management of these chronic diseases.

Effect of herbal medicine daikenchuto on gastrointestinal symptoms following laparoscopic colectomy in patients with colon cancer: A prospective randomized study.

We conducted a prospective randomized study to investigate the effect of daikenchuto (DKT) on abdominal symptoms following laparoscopic colectomy in patients with left-sided colon cancer. Patients who suffered from abdominal pain or distention on postoperative day 1 were randomized to either the DKT group or non-DKT group. The primary endpoints were the evaluation of abdominal pain, abdominal distention, and quality of life. The metabolome and gut microbiome analyses were conducted as secondary endpoints. A total of 17 patients were enrolled: 8 patients in the DKT group and 9 patients in the non-DKT group. There were no significant differences in the primary endpoints and postoperative adverse events between the two groups. The metabolome and gut microbiome analyses showed that the levels of plasma lipid mediators associated with the arachidonic acid cascade were lower in the DKT group than in the non-DKT group, and that the relative abundance of genera Serratia and Bilophila were lower in the DKT group than in the non-DKT group. DKT administration did not improve the abdominal symptoms following laparoscopic colectomy. The effects of DKT on metabolites and gut microbiome have to be further investigated.

Current herbal medicine as an alternative treatment in dentistry: In vitro, in vivo and clinical studies.

Since the time that human population comprehended the importance of general health maintenance and the burden of disease, there has been a search for healing properties in the natural environment. Herbal medicine is the use of plants with medical properties for prevention and treatment of conditions that can affect general health. Recently, a growing interest has been observed toward the use of traditional herbal medicine alongside synthetic modern drugs. Around 80% of the population, especially in developing countries relies on it for healthcare. Oral healthcare is considered a major part of general health. According to the world health organization (WHO), oral health is considered an important part of general health and quality of life. The utilization of natural medications for the management of pathologic oro-dental conditions can be a logical alternative to pharmaceutical methods due to their availability, low costs, and lower side effects. The current literature review aimed at exploration of the variety and extent of herbal products application in oral health maintenance including different fields of oral healthcare such as dental caries, periodontal maintenance, microbial infections, oral cancers, and inflammatory conditions.

Herbal medicine, what physicians need to know.

Herbal medicine, the most major component of traditional medicine, is as old as recorded history. Beginning in the early 1800s, with the development in the science of chemistry, a new era in pharmacotherapeutics was initiated whereby active chemical ingredients in plants, historically known to produce a favorable therapeutic effect, were extracted, purified and their structure disclosed. This ushered the modern era of therapy with drugs based on exploration of pure chemical products as to chemical identity, physicochemical properties, pharmacodynamic actions, pharmacokinetic behavior in the biological system, toxicological profile and effective and safe application in therapy. This relegated herbal medicine to a secondary role. More recently, a revival in the use of herbal medicine has been witnessed, even in culturally advanced societies, probably enhanced by the false belief that natural products are safe and also by vigorous promotion. Parallel to the increase in the use of herbal preparations as remedies for major diseases, there is currently a growing concern about their efficacy, safety and control. This prompted the World Health Organization to come out with recommendations for control in the document "Research Guidelines for Evaluating the Safety and Efficacy of Herbal Medicines" in 1993. The guidelines are equal in strictness to those applicable for drugs in general. A large number of member states have adopted these guidelines. The dangers in using herbal preparations for treatment include: * unproven therapeutic benefit * undisclosed toxicities * interaction of the chemicals in herbal preparations with each other and with concomitantly taken drugs, at the level of functionally important biological entities such as the plasma proteins, receptors, ion channels, transporters and others * incompatibilities with patient-related factors such as age, sex, genetic background and the function of the organs responsible for eliminating the effects of chemicals in herbal preparations such as the liver or kidney * the difficulty in standardizing treatments and * the inclusion of regular drugs with the herbal preparations without disclosure. In Lebanon, a committee is charged with the control of herbal preparations but a stricter control is required to handle preparations with a therapeutic claim as well as the issue of promotion.

[Patented technology status quo and development trend for Chinese herbal medicines].

Patent technology is regarded as technological trends under the market economy condition. The case showed the information form patent literature can be widely used in technology or economy. In this study, we analyzed the patent technology status quo and development trend for Chinese herbal medicines based on China patent database. The patent technology status quo is divided from the technology of biotechnology, quality control, cultivation and herb processing on Chinese herbal medicines. Furthermore, some recommendations of technology development and advices on patent protection for Chinese herbal medicines were suggested.

Application of Herbaceous Medications for Inflammatory Bowel Disease as a Complementary and Alternative Therapy.

BACKGROUND: Conventional medicine for the treatment of IBD is prevailingly composed of sulfadiazine, 5-aminosalicylic acid, glucocorticoid, and immunosuppressants, which have the merits of alleviating intestine inflammation, but long-term use of these drugs may cause toxic side effects; additionally, these drugs may be expensive. In the pursuit of novel and more economic therapies, patients may increasingly look at complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Recently, CAM is increasingly favored by the general public on account of its safety, low toxicity, and effectiveness. As a branch of CAM, herbal plants and their extracts have a significant effect on the treatment of IBD. Treatment of IBD with herbaceous plants has been reported, but specific mechanisms and effects have not yet been elaborated. METHODS: English abstracts were identified in PubMed and Science Direct by multiple search terms, such as "herbal," "CAM," "IBD," "ulcerative colitis," "abdominal pain," and so on. Full-length articles were selected for review. RESULTS: Herbaceous plants and their extracts have been shown to be effective against IBD in many studies, and herbaceous plants may be effective in treating symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, mucus, and bloody stools. CONCLUSIONS: Herbal medications could be used as a complementary and alternative treatment for IBD, but they require more rigorous scientific testing.