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

Introduction: To assess the efficacy of foeniculum Vulgar, menthe longifolia and Garlic in Iranian children. Methods and Matherials: Nine databases such as MEDLINE, Scopus and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials as well as domestic  database (Persian) such as SID, Iranmedex, Magiran, Medlib, Irandoc, and Google Scholar were searched using keywords such as  “child” and “complementary treatments or alternative treatments or herbal treatments or Anthum Foeniculum or Capillaceum or Foeniculum Officinale or Foeniculum vulgare or menthe longifolia or Garlic in June 2014 Result: Five studies were included in the systematic review. Our systematic review showed beneficial effect of Foeniculum Vulgare on redacting of infant 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 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 (foeniculum Vulgar, menthe longifolia and Garlic) had beneficial effect on Women's 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.