Osteoporosis is considered a silent disease, the early symptoms of which often go
unrecognised. Osteoporosis causes bone loss, reduces mineralised density, and inevitably leads to
bone fracture. Hormonal deficiencies due to aging or drug induction are also frequently attributed
to osteoporosis. Nevertheless, the phytochemical content of natural plants has been proven to
significantly reduce osteoporotic conditions. A systematic review was conducted by this study
to identify research specifically on the effects of Malaysian herbs such as
Piper sarmentosum
,
Eurycoma longifolia
and
Labisia pumila
on osteoporotic bone changes. This review consisted
of a comprehensive search of five databases for the effects of specific herbs on osteoporotic
bone change. These databases were Web of Science (WOS), Medline, Scopus, ScienceDirect and
PubMed. The articles were selected throughout the years, were limited to the English language
and fully documented. Duplication, irrelevant titles, different herbs and in vitro studies were
excluded, including those that are not original research papers. A total of 399 potential studies
were identified, but only 21 samples were accepted based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Six of the twenty one studies were on
Piper sarmentosum, six on
Eurycoma longifolia, and the
remaining nine studies were on
Labisia pumila. Overall, in three of the studies a glucocorticoid-induced
model was used, while in 12 of the studies an ovariectomised model was used, and for the
other six studies an orchidectomised model was used as the osteoporotic model. All of the studies
reported varied results based on the type of herbs used, but in comparison to
Eurycoma longifolia,
Piper sarmentosum and
Labisia pumila recorded better anti-osteoporotic effects, while the
majority of studies on
Eurycoma longifolia were unable to preserve bone strength.
