An Evidence Based Review on Integrative Medicine in Weight Control

Considering the high prevalence of obesity in the world and Iran, its serious complications, failure of standard treatments in many patients, and recent trends towards complementary medicine, awareness of the effectiveness and side effects of such therapies seems necessary. This research aimed to review the effectiveness, safety and side effects of complementary medicine in obesity.
Databases including MEDLINE, SCOPUS and Scientific Iranian Database were searched in English and Persian languages using “obesity, overweight, herbal medicine, integrative medicine, complementary medicine , agar, psyllium, alpha lipoic acid, conjugated linoleic acid, diacylglycerol, aloe, caffeine, calcium, bean pod, vitamin D, acupuncture, and …” as key words. All randomized controlled trials, in vitro and in vivo studies, systematic reviews and meta analysis were included. Then, information regarding those herbs were searched in the herbal and Persian Medicine references, along with the related products in Iranian pharmacopoeia through English and Persian references.
In total eighty six articles were found related to the subject among which 79 fulfilled the inclusion criteria, entered the study and were reviewed. Among the herbs and supplements used for weight control Agar, psyllium, Alpha lipoic acid, conjugated linoleic acid, diacylglycerol, aloe, caffeine, calcium, bean pod, vitamin D have acceptable scientific evidence for efficacy and safety. Among non-herbal complementary therapies, yoga and meditation have shown promising scientific evidence.
Agar, psyllium, Alpha lipoic acid, conjugated linoleic acid, diacylglycerol, aloe, caffeine, calcium, bean pod, vitamin D, yoga and meditation could be suggested as complementary and integrative treatments besides the standard treatment of obesity, with acceptable effectiveness and safety.