title: Medicinal plants for women's healthcare in southeast Asia: a meta-analysis of their traditional use, chemical constituents, and pharmacology.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This is an extensive review of plants used traditionally for women's healthcare in Southeast Asia and surrounding countries. Medicinal plants have a significant role in women's healthcare in many rural areas of the world. Plants with numerous efficacious observations have historically been used as a starting point in the development of new drugs, and a large percentage of modern pharmaceuticals have been derived from medicinal plants.
  
  
  METHODS
  A review was conducted for all plant use mentioned specifically for female healthcare, such as medicine to increase fertility, induce menstruation or abortion, ease pregnancy and parturition, reduce menstrual bleeding and postpartum hemorrhage, alleviate menstrual, parturition and postpartum pain, increase or inhibit lactation, and treat mastitis and uterine prolapse, in 200 studies focusing on medicinal plant use, either general studies or studies focusing specifically on women's healthcare.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nearly 2000 different plant species are reported to be used in over 5000 combinations. Most common are Achyranthes aspera, Artemisia vulgaris, Blumea balsamifera, Carica papaya, Curcuma longa, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Leonurus japonicus, Psidium guajava and Ricinus communis, and each of these species had been reported in more than 10 different scientific articles.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This review provides a basis for traditional plant use in women's healthcare, and these species can be used as the starting point in the discovery of new drugs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Systematic Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvagen 18D, SE-75236 Uppsala, Sweden; Naturalis Biodiversity Center, NHN Leiden University, Einsteinweg 2, P.O. Box 9514, The Netherlands; Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, 0318 Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: hugo.deboer@ebc.uu.se.
authors.forename: Hugo J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: de Boer
authors.affiliation: Department of Systematic Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvagen 18D, SE-75236 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Crystle
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cotingting
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001210:Asia, Southeastern; D020834:Ethnopharmacology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D016387:Women's Health
keywords: Drug discovery; Medicinal plants; Pharmacological studies; Southeast Asia; Traditional medicine; Women's health