Herbal support for digestive health: A review of common conditions and complementary strategies

Abstract

Abdulrahim Marzouq Alharbi*, Ahmed Murayshid Almutairi, Majed Hamoud Almutairi, Mohammad Abdulghafour Neyazi, Ali Asiri and Meshal Salem Aljohani

The Gastrointestinal (GI) tract is a vital part of the health component of digestion because it is required to aid in the absorption of nutrients, immune homeostasis and general homeostasis. FGIDs include Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Functional Dyspepsia (FD) and Functional Constipation (FC) that may be associated with such symptoms as abdominal pain, bloating, early satiety and change of bowel habits. Such types of states harm the quality of life and cause the enormous economic expenses in terms of the healthcare consumption and wasted productivity. Most conventional drugs including antispasmodicts in the case of IBS, prokinetics in the case of FD and osmotic laxatives in the case of FC are of marginal benefit because of the pathogenesis of gut dysmotili ty multi-factorial, the visceral hypersensitivity and the microbiota imbalance and psychosocial factors. The Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Middle Eastern herbal interventions would also be consulted and relied on as other treatment procedures. Evidence of peppermint oil as an antispasmodic agent in IBS, gastric accommodation stimulation by Rikkunshito in FD and regular bowel movements stimulation by psyllium husk in FC. It possesses not very high adverse event with a relative risk of improvement of symptoms between 1.5 and 3.8. The light in the mechanism is the anti-inflammatory action of the curcumin and serotonin aspect in the Chinese prescriptions, Tongxie Yaofang. In general, the customized, evidence-based use of herbs in the form of the standardized extracts to streamline the efficacy and safety as effective additional interventions in the management of FGID is supported.