Medicinal plants proposed for nausea and vomiting of pregnancy: a review study based on Iranian traditional medicine

Abstract

Introduction: One of the most common complications of pregnancy is nausea and vomiting. Non-pharmacologic therapies are increasingly used in the treatment of NVP because of concerns related to the consumption of drugs in pregnancy and side effects of Food and Drug Administration approved drugs for NVP and general tendency to the use of complementary therapies. These therapies are known as natural remedies and safer than medical treatments. This review study was performed with aim to introduce effective medicinal plants for NVP in Iranian Traditional Medicine resources. Methods: This study is a library and literature review of the main texts and books of Iranian traditional medicine that in which, medicinal plants were evaluated in six references of Iranian Traditional Medicine. The study process included finding of the key words, searching in the resources of Iranian Traditional Medicine, finding the synonyms, sorting, ranking and rating by score. Results: Nineteen medicinal plants were found in the resources related for the treatment of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy. The highest score and most applicable ones were related to Pomegranate, Quince, Citron, Spearmint and unripe grape. Conclusion: The use of oral drugs of natural origin along with common medications in the treatment of NVP can be considered as a complementary therapy and this would require further clinical studies

Keywords

• nausea
• vomiting
• pregnancy
• iranian traditional medicine
• medicinal plants