Effects of Trigonella foenum graecum (fenugreek) on rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review

Abstract

Background

Adjuvant therapies especially medicinal plants have gained lots of attention nowadays and have been consumed all over the world for treating different diseases particularly rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Recent animal studies have indicated the benefits of fenugreek in RA and indicate that it may be a therapeutic candidate in RA; nonetheless, no systematic review is available about fenugreek and RA. This paper systematically reviewed the existing studies about fenugreek and RA and plausible mechanisms.

Methods

Databases including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest, and the search engine Google Scholar were searched until May 2022 and search alerts were used to receive studies issued after the primary search. There was no restriction in time and/or language. No human and in vitro research was detected; thus, animal investigations were considered. Also, the citations or references of studies were searched for potential studies. Book chapters, review papers, and grey literature (e.g. conference abstracts, dissertations, and patents) were not included.

Results

Finally, 11 studies were entered in this systematic review. Animal investigations showed that fenugreek had favorable effects in RA and could control this disease via attenuating inflammation, suppressing oxidative stress, and displaying anti-arthritic activity.

Conclusion

Current review provides potent evidences about the efficacy of fenugreek in RA and elucidates the significance of more clinical investigations.

Highlights

• Fenugreek had favorable effects in rheumatoid arthritis and could control this disease via attenuating inflammation, suppressing oxidative stress, and displaying anti-arthritic activity.

Keywords:

• Trigonella
• arthritis
• rheumatoid
• systematic review

Author contributions

ZF and AMM contributed to the conceptualization and study design, data collection and interpretation, data extraction, manuscript drafting, and manuscript revision. ZJ helped in interpretation of the data, quality assessment of papers, and manuscript drafting. YKH helped in manuscript drafting and its revision. All authors have read and approved the submitted and revised final version of the manuscript and confirm that it is not published elsewhere and is not copied from other papers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data underlying this article will be shared on reasonable request to the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Food Safety Research Center (salt) of Semnan University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Semnan, Iran (Grant No. A-10-377-14).