Scope of Unani Herbal Medicine in the Management of Obesity - A Review

Abstract

Obesity is a term used to describe body weight that is much greater than what is considered healthy. It has become a serious public health problem. It affects 32.2% of the global population. The worldwide prevalence of obesity is 1.6 billion and is already reached epidemic proportions mostly in high income groups. Strategies involve general lifestyle modification includes healthy diet, maintain optimal weight, physical activity etc. Non-pharmacological therapy consists of diet and exercise, but most of the cases this form of therapy may not be helpful to reduce weight satisfactorily. The available synthetic Pharmacological therapies having its own side effects and limitations. Unani herbal Medicine plays an important role in the management of obesity. Number of herbs is documented in Unani classics to reduce weight and studies have also been carried out for its anti-obesity activity. This paper gives information on herbs and its mechanism of action for weight reduction.