Impact of Medicinal Plants on Bone Health; a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Clinical Studies Publisher



Karimi SM¹ ; Abbaspour F² ; Tabatabaeimalazy O³ ; Qolami H⁴ ; Fayyaz F⁵ ; Ebrahimi Fana S⁶ ; Rahimi R¹ ; Salari P⁷ ; Larijani B⁴
Source: Journal of Agriculture and Food Research Published:2025

Abstract

Research has documented the anti-osteoporotic effects of medicinal plants individually or in the form of multi-component preparations in numerous clinical trials. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the quality of these studies and analyze their efficacy and safety on bone health. We comprehensively searched electronic databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Scopus, and Cochrane Library up to January 2023 to find clinical studies evaluating the efficacy and/or safety of medicinal plants on bone mineral density (BMD), and bone formation, regulations, and resorption biomarkers. A random-effects meta-analysis was performed to estimate the standard effect sizes. Possible sources of heterogeneity were explored by meta-regression analysis. Totally, 48 studies were eligible for meta-analysis. Random-effects meta-analysis showed that medicinal plants have non-significantly reduced the standardized mean difference (SMD) levels of BMD (−0.09 [95%CI -0.59, 0.41], I2 = 98.26 %), but significantly decreased bone resorption biomarkers (−0.7, [−1.01, −0.36], I2 = 93.23 %). Among bone formation markers, medicinal plants have significantly increased their SMD levels (0.55 [0.11, 0.99], I2 = 96.71 %). For bone regulatory markers, medicinal plants increased non-significantly their levels (0.26 [-0.12, 0.64], I2 = 63.95 %). We concluded that medicinal plants have positively impact on bone health. They significantly reduced bone resorption markers and promoted bone formation. These findings suggest that medicinal plants could be beneficial in managing and potentially treating bone health conditions. However, to better determine the effects of herbal medicines on bone health, more well-designed controlled trials are necessary to provide sufficient data for performing specific meta-analyses for each plant. © 2024 The Authors