Herb As Effective As Drugs Posted: 10-23-06 13:37pm
A new clinical study adds to the growing
body of evidence supporting the use of
devil's claw root (hapagophytum
procumbens)in osteoarthritis. The
double-blind, randomized trial concluded
that devil's claw root was as effective in
relieving pain as and safer than
diacerhein (a type of drug known as a
symptomatic slow-acting drug for
osteoarthritis, or sysadoa). The study
participants (122 people with active
osteoarthritis of the hip or knee) were
randomly assigned to take either six 435
mg capsules of devil's claw powdered
extract plus two placebo capsules, or two
50 mg capsules of diacerhein plus six
placebo capsules for four months.
Results showed that the two treatments
were equally effective in relieving
spontaneous pain. However, by the end of
the study, significantly fewer people in
the devil's claw group needed to take
additional analgesics for "rescue" pain
relief. The frequency of side effects
was also significantly lower among people
in the devil's claw group. The most
commonly reported adverse effect was
diarrhea, reported by 8.1% of the devil's
claw group and 26.7% of those who took
diacerhein. The devil's claw used in the
study was a french product marketed under
the trade name harpadol®. Chantre p,
cappelaere a, leblan d, et al. Efficacy
and tolerance of harpagophytum procumbens
versus diacerhein in treatment of
osteoarthritis. Phytomedicine 2000;
7(3): 177-183.
