INTRODUCTION: Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) and evidence of their positive effects on obesity is emerging. This review investigated the effects and safety of CHM formulas in reducing body weight and body mass index (BMI).
METHODS: We have searched in 11 English and 4 Chinese databases to identify randomised-controlled trials (RCTs) which compared CHM formulations alone or involving co-interventions (such as Western medication and/or physical exercise and diet therapy). The control included placebo, Western medication, physical exercise and diet therapy alone or in combination with the same co-interventions. Keywords include ‘obesity’, ‘Chinese herbal medicine’, and ‘randomised controlled trial’. Quality of included studies was assessed according to the risk of bias assessment tool from the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions using RevMan 5.3.5 software. The primary outcomes of body weight and BMI were analysed using mean difference with 95% confidence intervals.
RESULTS & DISCUSSION: Thirty-five RCTs consisting of 2949 overweight and obese participants were included in the systematic review and meta-analyses. The majority of included studies had high or unclear risk of selection, performance and detection bias. Five studies comparing CHM with placebo and five studies comparing CHM with Western medication, did not indicate significant difference in body weight or BMI. Twenty-five studies involving co-interventions revealed CHM had significant adjunct effects on body weight and BMI at the end of treatment period as compared to the control group.
CONCLUSION: Considering the quality of the included RCTs, more rigorously designed RCTs involving co-intervention (such as physical exercise and diet therapy) are warranted.