Advanced pharmaceutical bulletin. 11(1):8-9. doi: 10.34172/apb.2021.001Letter to Editor
Jollab: A Safe Remedy for Functional Dyspepsia in Persian Medicine
Mehdi Pasalar 1, 2
, Babak Daneshfard 3, *, Kamran Bagheri Lankarani 4
1Research Center for Traditional Medicine and History of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
2Essence of Parsiyan Wisdom Institute, Phytopharmaceutical Technology and Traditional Medicine Incubator, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
3Traditional Medicine Clinical Trial Research Center, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.
4Health Policy Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
*Corresponding Author: Babak Daneshfard, Email: babakdaneshfard@gmail.com
Copyright
© 2021 The Authors.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.
Dear Editor,
With lots of interest, we read the paper by Ebrahimzadeh Attari et al.1 In this valuable investigation, the beneficial effects of ginger in eradication of Helicobacter pylori and improvement of functional dyspepsia symptoms have been revealed.
Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a common annoying disorder without any approved medication for its treatment; although, some “off-label” treatments including antidepressants are commonly used.2
The mind-gut relation and possible beneficial effect of antidepressants in FD has been the subject of several studies. However, these drugs are not completely safe and may induce significant side effects especially in the older patients.3 Since a long time ago, old comprehensive medical schools including Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Persian Medicine (PM) have acknowledged this mind-gut relation through their holistic viewpoints toward health and human well-being. For instance, Avicenna (980–1037 AD) who is a well-known Persian sage of Islamic Golden Age,4 has mentioned the importance of psychiatric components in the emergence of FD symptoms in the “Canon of Medicine ”. In this regard, the proposed management of dyspepsia in PM, similar to other holistic medical schools, is not only toward the gastrointestinal tract, but also consider the interventions targeting the mind and psychological affairs.5,6
We have recently shown that Jollab, a mixture of rose water, saffron and candy sugar in syrup dosage form, could improve the FD symptoms as well as the quality of life and depressive symptoms, simultaneously. The compound had good safety profile without any hazardous side effects.7 Considering the high rate of adverse events related to antidepressant usage in treating FD and high rate of discontinuation of these drugs in several studies,3 the safety profile of Jollab is quite interesting. Although believed credence of herbal products’ safety has been failed repeatedly, precise approach to complementary/traditional remedies whit anti-psychotic potential could propose an excellent opportunity for handling the prevalent diseases such as FD. This could also diminish the side effects and improve the patients’ satisfaction.
Unfortunately, data on the use of PM medicinal herbs are sparse and many gastroenterologists even in Iran are not familiar with this approach. However, in the current era of integrative medicine, such approaches should receive more attention from the physicians.
Ethical Issues
Not applicable.
Conflict of Interest
There is no conflict of interest to declare.
References
- Ebrahimzadeh Attari V, Somi MH, Asghari Jafarabadi M, Ostadrahimi A, Moaddab SY, Lotfi N. The gastro-protective effect of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) in Helicobacter pylori positive functional dyspepsia. Adv Pharm Bull 2019; 9(2):321-4. doi: 10.15171/apb.2019.038 [Crossref]
- Chey WD, Lacy BE, Cash BD, Epstein M, Corsino PE, Shah SM. A novel, duodenal-release formulation of a combination of caraway oil and L-menthol for the treatment of functional dyspepsia: a randomized controlled trial. Clin Transl Gastroenterol 2019; 10(4):e00021. doi: 10.14309/ctg.0000000000000021 [Crossref]
- Lu Y, Chen M, Huang Z, Tang C. Antidepressants in the treatment of functional dyspepsia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One 2016; 11(6):e0157798. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0157798 [Crossref]
- Nimrouzi M, Tafazoli V, Daneshfard B, Zare M. Optimal fluid intake in daily diet: Avicenna’s view. J Integr Med 2016; 14(4):241-4. doi: 10.1016/s2095-4964(16)60262-5 [Crossref]
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Avicenna. Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine). Tehran: Soroush Press; 2005.
- Pasalar M, Nimrouzi M, Choopani R, Mosaddegh M, Kamalinejad M, Mohagheghzadeh A. Functional dyspepsia: a new approach from traditional Persian medicine. Avicenna J Phytomed 2016; 6(2):165-74.
- Pasalar M, Choopani R, Mosaddegh M, Kamalinejad M, Mohagheghzadeh A, Fattahi MR. Efficacy and safety of Jollab to treat functional dyspepsia: a randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial. Explore (NY) 2015; 11(3):199-207. doi: 10.1016/j.explore.2015.02.007 [Crossref]