Mechanistic pathway of herbs in the amelioration of NAFLD: A systematic review

• Published in: World Academy of Sciences Journal
• Main Author: Jayanti N.E.; Said R.M.; Jofrry S.M.; Choo C.-Y.
• Format: Review
• Language: English
• Published: Spandidos Publications 2024
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85194155739&doi=10.3892%2fwasj.2024.245&partnerID=40&md5=db503bdcd7e4cdf438297779baf48827

Non‑alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is identified by lipid accumulation in the liver and liver injury due to obesity and metabolic syndrome. Herbs have been used in the treatment of various diseases, including liver disease. The present systematic review aimed to identify plants and the doses used in the management and prevention of NAFLD, as well as to assess the safety of these plants and deter‑ mine their mechanisms of action, providing the preclinical evidence‑based usage of herbs. Scientific databases, namely, Scopus, PubMed, Springer, NCBI, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and Web of Science were searched with key words, such as ‘non‑alcoholic fatty liver disease’, ‘non‑alcoholic steatohepatitis’, ‘metabolic‑associated fatty liver disease’, ‘medicinal plants’, ‘hyperlipidemia’ and ‘plant extracts’ from January, 2016 to November, 2023. Manual screening, quality assessment, and data extraction of the search results were performed according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Herbs were identified which were able to ameliorate NAFLD symptoms in rodents through lipid metabolism, insulin resistance, inflammation and oxidative stress. These herbs were identified to lead to a reduction in steatosis in the histo‑ pathological assessment. The acute or chronic toxicity studies were not found to indicate any signs of toxicity. The present study provides information on the highest dose evaluated and which was effective against NAFLD, with safety assessment in studies using rats. Since chronic liver diseases progress over a long period of time with minimal or no symptoms, the consumption of herbs may provide alternative treatment strategies for the prevention of NAFLD. Further studies are warranted however, to identify their bioactive compounds for drug development or for the standardization of crude extracts. Drug‑herb interactions also need to be further evaluated when used concurrently with drugs. Copyright © 2024 Jayanti et al.