REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1586238
This article is part of the Research TopicReviews in Ethnopharmacology: 2025View all 16 articles
Food Plants as Adjuvant Medicines: A Review of Protective Effects and Clinical Potential in Alcoholic Liver Disease
Provisionally accepted
- 1Lushan Botanical Garden, Jiangxi Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jiujiang, China
- 2College of traditional Chinese medicine, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China
- 3College of Life Sciences, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China
- 4Jiangxi Academy of Forestry, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China
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Research background: Globally, alcohol usage is the third-leading risk factor for diseases, and alcohol-induced alcoholic liver disease (ALD) has become a global public health problem. ALD is characterized by oxidative stress and immune damage in the liver caused by excessive alcohol consumption. Furthermore, alcohol and its metabolites disrupt the health of the intestinal tract and cause secondary liver damage through the gut-liver axis.Existing problems: The underlying mechanisms of ALD are complex. Currently, there are no safe and effective drugs for the prevention and treatment of ALD; some food plants used as medicines (FPUM) have demonstrated promising effects in combating this condition. Solutions: In this review, we analyze the pathogenesis of ALD and explore the mechanisms of action of certain FPUM in preventing and treating ALD. Different mechanisms include activation of alcohol metabolismrelated enzymes, maintenance of mitochondrial stability, reduction of oxidative stress damage caused by alcohol intake, regulation of cytokine levels, and modulation of the gut microbiota. The review also explores potential future research directions and summarizes insights for developing novel therapeutic agents and components. Future prospects: Future research on FPUM for the treatment of ALD could explore promising avenues such as multi-herb combinations, multi-component formulations, and side effect reduction strategies, demonstrating that the development of herbal medicine still holds boundless potential.
Keywords: alcoholic liver disease, food plants used as medicines, Traditional Chinese Medicine, mechanism of action, Pathogenesis of ALD
Received: 02 Mar 2025; Accepted: 24 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Zhang, Chen, Hu and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Weiming Hu, Lushan Botanical Garden, Jiangxi Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jiujiang, China
Fen Liu, Lushan Botanical Garden, Jiangxi Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jiujiang, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.