The effect of medicinal plants on cirrhosis: A systematic review of clinical trials

source extracted confidence: high 2026-04-09
#humans #plants-medicinal #curcumin #quality-of-life #liver-cirrhosis

The effect of medicinal plants on cirrhosis: A systematic review of clinical trials

Amini et al., 2023 | Phytother Res | Systematic Review

Citation

Amini Sepide, Bagherniya Mohammad, ... Sahebkar Amirhossein. The effect of medicinal plants on cirrhosis: A systematic review of clinical trials. Phytother Res. 2023-Jul;37(7):3083-3096. doi:10.1002/ptr.7816

Abstract

Medicinal plants with minimal side effects, low cost, and liver-protective effects can be a suitable treatment option for cirrhosis. Therefore, this systematic review aimed to determine the effectiveness of herbal medicines on cirrhosis, a life-threatening liver disease. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were systematically searched for clinical trials that investigated the effect of medicinal plants on cirrhosis. This review includes 11 clinical trials, of which eight studies including 613 patients assessed the effect of silymarin on cirrhosis. Three of six studies showed the beneficial effects of silymarin on aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT). Two studies including 118 patients investigated the effect of curcumin on cirrhosis, one showing improvement in quality of life and the other showing improvements in alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bilirubin, prothrombin time (PT), and the international normalized ratio (INR). An article including four patients investigated the effect of ginseng on cirrhosis; two patients reported improvement in the Child-Pugh score, and ascites decreased in two. All studies included here reported no or negligible side effects. Results showed that medicinal plants including silymarin, curcumin, and ginseng have beneficial effects on cirrhosis. However, due to the limited number of studies, further high-quality studies are warranted.

Key Findings

However, due to the limited number of studies, further high-quality studies are warranted.

Outcomes Measured

  • Requires manual extraction

Population

Field Value
Population See abstract
Sample Size 613
Age Range See abstract
Condition See abstract

MeSH Terms

  • Humans
  • Plants, Medicinal
  • Curcumin
  • Quality of Life
  • Liver Cirrhosis
  • Silymarin

Evidence Classification

  • Level: Systematic Review
  • Publication Types: Systematic Review, Journal Article
  • Vertical: curcumin

Provenance

Source extracted via PubMed E-utilities API on 2026-04-09