Cautiously using natural medicine to treat liver problems

Table 1 Information about typical natural herbal formula "Sho-saiko-to" for treatment of liver diseases

Natural medicine	Ref.	Literature type	Effects and mechanisms/possible mechanisms	Adverse reactions
Sho-saiko-to	Shimizu[4], 2000	Review	Preventive and therapeutic effects on experimental hepatic fibrosis; inhibition of oxidative stress in hepatocytes and hepatic stellate cells	Not mentioned
	Yamashiki et al[5], 1992	Article	Efficacious against chronic liver diseases, malignant diseases and acute infectious diseases	Not mentioned
	Yamashiki et al[6], 1999	Article	Suppressing liver cancer development; increasing interleukin-12 production and macrobiotic activity	Not mentioned
			in liver cirrhosis patients
	Lee et al[15], 2011	Review	1 Protecting against development of hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhotic patients	Interstitial pneumonia and acute respiratory failure
			2 Reducing hepatocyte necrosis and enhancing liver function
			3 Inhibiting hepatic fibrosis by reducing activation of stellate cells
			4 Inhibiting hepatic lipid peroxidation, promoting matrix degradation, and suppressing extracellular matrix accumulation

Table 2 Information of some natural herbal medicines for treatment of liver diseases

Natural medicines	Ref.	Literature type	Effects and mechanisms/possible mechanisms	Adverse reactions
Silymarin	Bahmani et al[18], 2015	Review	Antioxidant; anti-inflammatory; cell permeability regulator and membrane stabilizer; stimulating liver regeneration and inhibiting deposition of collagen fibers	Mild gastrointestinal disorders
	Zhu et al[21], 2016	Review	Anticancer by regulating cancer cells growth, proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, such as hepatocellular carcinoma; antioxidant, immunomodulatory, anti-fibrotic, anti-proliferative, and antiviral activities	Not mentioned
	Csupor et al[22], 2016	Review	Stimulating liver regeneration; antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective; treatment of mushroom poisoning, hepatitis, cirrhosis and fibrosis of liver	Mild gastrointestinal
				and allergic reactions
Long pepper	Kumar et al[23], 2011	Review	Hepatoprotective activity; treatment for chronic bronchitis, asthma, constipation, gonorrhea, paralysis of tongue, diarrhea, cholera, chronic malaria, viral hepatitis, stomachache, spleen diseases, cough, and tumors	Contraceptive activity;
				should be avoided during pregnancy and lactation
	Mansour et al[24], 2009	Article	Increasing activity of transglutaminase; enhancing antioxidant activities in fibrotic liver; anti-tussive, anti-asthmatic, anti-allergic, antitubercular, antipyretic, hypotensive, hypoglycemic, antihelmentic and coronary vasodilatory	Not mentioned
	Jiang et al[25], 2013	Review	Anti-hepatitis B virus activity in vitro	Not mentioned
Holy Basil	Lahon et al[26], 2011	Article	Hepatoprotective activity and synergistic with silymarin; anti-inflammatory activity	Not mentioned
	Baliga et al[27], 2013	Review	Anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic, antidiabetic, hepatoprotective, hypolipidemic, antistress, and immunomodulatory activities	Not mentioned but being considered non-toxic
	Singh et al[28], 2007	Review	Anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, hypotensive, anticoagulant and immunomodulatory activities; chemopreventive and hypolipidemic activities	Not mentioned
	Prakash et al[30], 2005	Review	Antifertility, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, antifungal, antimicrobial, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, antiemetic, antispasmodic, analgesic, adaptogenic and diaphoretic actions	Not mentioned

Table 3 Information of some natural plants for treatment of liver problems

Natural plants	Ref.	Literature type	Effects and mechanisms/possible mechanisms	Adverse reactions
Coffee	Masterton et al[10], 2010	Review	Potential to reduce risk of abnormal liver function tests, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma	Clinical dependency, withdrawal,
				tolerance or intoxication
	Wadhawan et al[33], 2016	Review	Reducing incidence of fibrosis and cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma rates, and decreasing mortality	Not mentioned
Apple	Codoñer-Franch et al[34], 2013	Article	Protective action against oxidative stress induced by tamoxifen in rats	Not mentioned
	Sharma et al[35], 2016	Article	Antioxidant activity; able to induce protein expression of nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 to inhibit CCl4-induced apoptosis	Not mentioned
Resveratrol	Burns et al[38], 2002	Review	anti-oxidative, anti-carcinogenic, and antitumor properties	Not mentioned
	Andrade et al[39], 2014	Article	Improving lipid metabolism, decreasing incidence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, pro-inflammatory profile in liver of mice fed with obesity-inducible diets	Not mentioned