Traditional medicinal plants in the treatment of gastrointestinal parasites in humans: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of clinical and experimental evidence

Abstract

Gastrointestinal (GI) parasites cause significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. The use of conventional antiparasitic drugs is often inhibited due to limited availability, side effects or parasite resistance. Medicinal plants can be used as alternatives or adjuncts to current antiparasitic therapies. This systematic review and meta‐analysis aimed to critically synthesise the literature on the efficacy of different plants and plant compounds against common human GI parasites and their toxicity profiles. Searches were conducted from inception to September 2021. Of 5393 screened articles, 162 were included in the qualitative synthesis (159 experimental studies and three randomised control trials [RCTs]), and three articles were included in meta‐analyses. A total of 507 plant species belonging to 126 families were tested against different parasites, and most of these (78.4%) evaluated antiparasitic efficacy in vitro. A total of 91 plant species and 34 compounds were reported as having significant in vitro efficacy against parasites. Only a few plants (n = 57) were evaluated for their toxicity before testing their antiparasitic effects. The meta‐analyses revealed strong evidence of the effectiveness of Lepidium virginicum L. against Entamoeba histolytica with a pooled mean IC50 of 198.63 μg/mL (95% CI 155.54–241.72). We present summary tables and various recommendations to direct future research.

Assessment of the chemical and genetic variability among accessions of Cicerbita alpina (L.) Wallr., an alpine plant with anthelmintic properties

“…Several studies support the assumption that certain STLs themselves or in synergy with other natural substances are responsible for the AH activity of plants and plant extracts (Valente et al, 2021;Ranasinghe et al, 2023b). For this reason, special attention was given not only to the main STL derivative (GPL), but also to LAC, LACP, and other known insecticidal metabolites, such as ChA, CGA, and 3.5 DCQ during the chemical analyses of C. alpina (Valente et al, 2021;Ocampos et al, 2023).…”

Gastrointestinal parasitosis diagnosed by colonoscopy as cause of weight loss in 46-year-old woman with three negative stool tests for presence of parasites

“…Helminths can be further divided into flatworms and roundworms. The list of the most important etiological factors of parasitic infestations of the gastrointestinal tract is presented in Table I [1,2,3].…”