Most Common Herbal Medicines in the Treatment of Iranian Children: A Systematic Review

Introduction To assess the efficacy of some herbal medicines such as Foeniculum vulgar (Fennel), Menthe longifolia and Garlic in Iranian children. Methods and Matherials Nine databases such as Medline, Scopus and the Cochrane as well as domestic database (Persian) such as SID, Iranmedex, Magiran, Medlib, Irandoc, and Google Scholar were searched with using keywords such as "Child"; "Complementary treatments"; "Alternative treatments"; "Herbal treatments"; "Anthum foeniculum"; "Capillaceum"; "Foeniculum officinale"; "Foeniculum vulgare" ; "Menthe longifolia" and "Garlic" in June 2014. Results Five studies were included in the systematic review. Our systematic review showed beneficial effect of Foeniculum vulgare (Fennel) on redaction of infantile colic and also led to significant increase on prolactin levels in lactating mothers. Base on only study, comparison between two groups (Shirafza and placebo drops) did not show any significant difference in regarding infant weight gain. Menthe longifolia combined with Oral rehydration salts (ORS) improved frequency of defecation, Volume and consistency of stool. Also review systematic showed that garlic significantly decreased fever, frequency and duration of diarrhea, leukocyte in stool. Conclusion Herbals medicine such as Foeniculum vulgar, Menthe longifolia and Garlic had beneficial effect on womenʹs serum prolactin levels, infantile colic, frequency of defecation, volume, consistency of stool. However, this result should be interpreted with caution which low number of sample and methodological quality.