An updated review of single herbal drugs in the management of osteoporosis

Abstract

Osteoporosis is a bone disease characterized by a decrease in bone mass and microarchitectural alterations. This would lead to a bone with less tensile strength and significantly more susceptibility to fracture with less force. This syndrome is clinically silent but progressive, usually only noted when a fracture occurs. Though there is no direct reference of this condition in classical texts of Ayurveda, it can be correlated with the Asthi kshaya on the basis of pathophysiology and symptoms. For the management of this condition, various therapeutic measures are recommended in the classical texts. Among them, single herbal remedies for the management of osteoporosis are in routine clinical practice. The present review has been carried out to compile different pre-clinical and clinical research works reported on single herbal drugs for the management of osteoporosis. Analysis of results shows that, about 11 different drugs mentioned in classical texts of Ayurveda are reported for their anti-osteoporotic properties in different clinical and experimental studies. Clinically Nigella sativa is reported for its effect on the bone markers of postmenopausal women, Plants like Withania somnifera, Cissus quadrangularis, Punicagranatum, Tinospora cordifolia, are studied experimentally and found effective in the management of osteoporosis. The findings of present review highlight the use of these single and simple herbal remedies for the treatment of patients suffering from osteoporosis and can give a lead to further extensive research on these drugs.